Who Owns the Stage, the Script, and the Algorithm? Entertainment Law’s Wild Year-End
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As 2025 comes to a close, the legal fault lines of the entertainment industry are impossible to ignore.
In this year-end episode of Entertainment Law Update, Gordon Firemark and Tamera Bennett—along with the ELU contributor team—break down the cases, controversies, and deals that defined the year and preview what’s coming in 2026.
From Disney’s alleged booking blacklist and Texas drag-show litigation, to AI copyright rulings and Netflix’s audacious attempt to buy Warner Bros., we ask one unifying question:
Who really controls creative expression today—artists, platforms, or algorithms?
🎤 Willis v. Walt Disney Company
Is a secret “do-not-book” list an unfair business practice—or protected expression?
After a successful run of live shows at Walt Disney World, Village People frontman Victor Willis alleged Disney quietly blacklisted the band due to pressure from a rival lineup. Disney denied the claim and filed an anti-SLAPP motion. The California Court of Appeal held that Disney’s booking decisions are expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment and sent the case back for further proceedings.
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2025/d084434.html
🌈 Woodlands Pride v. Paxton
Texas drag-performance law, standing doctrine, and post-Moody First Amendment analysis
Texas’s law criminalizing “sexually oriented performances” in the presence of children was initially struck down as unconstitutional. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit vacated the injunction, holding that plaintiffs lacked standing against certain defendants and that the district court failed to apply the Supreme Court’s new facial-challenge framework from Moody v. NetChoice.
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/23-20480/23-20480-2025-11-06.html
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/23/23-20480-CV0.pdf
🐰 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Goes Home (Quick Take)
Copyright termination rights in action
In a rare but powerful example of statutory termination under 17 U.S.C. § 203, author Gary K. Wolf successfully reclaimed rights to the Roger Rabbit stories from Disney—and plans new works based on the character.
https://wdwnt.com/2025/11/disney-relinquishes-rights-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit-back-to-owner
🤖 AI Corner
AI Curtailed in Germany
A landmark ruling against OpenAI
A German court ruled that ChatGPT infringed copyrighted song lyrics by memorizing and reproducing them, rejecting OpenAI’s argument that infringement was solely user-driven.
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/gema-wins-landmark-ruling-against-openai-over-chatgpts-use-of-song-lyrics/
https://www.reuters.com/world/german-court-sides-with-plaintiff-copyright-case-against-openai-2025-11-11/
Court Rules AI News Summaries May Violate Copyright
“Substitutive summaries” survive a motion to dismiss
Fourteen publishers sued Cohere for AI-generated news summaries that allegedly replicate expressive structure and journalistic choices. A federal judge ruled the claims were plausibly infringing.
⚖️ In re Marriage of Strong (Quick Take)
Copyrights as collection-eligible assets
A California appellate court held that copyrights can be seized and transferred to a receiver to satisfy judgments, confirming that intellectual property is not immune from collection.
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2025/b345843.html
🎬 Netflix to Buy Warner Bros.
A $72B deal that could reshape Hollywood
Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and HBO Max has triggered antitrust scrutiny, filmmaker backlash, and a hostile counter-bid from Paramount. The deal raises existential questions about theatrical windows, market power, and creative independence.
https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-to-acquire-warner-bros
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/05/netflix-warner-bros-deal-regulatory-questions.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/06/media/netflix-warner-bros-antitrust
https://variety.com/2025/film/news/anonymous-filmmakers-netflix-wbd-open-letter-congress-1236600659/
https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/netflix-wins-warner-bros-discovery-deal-because-of-south-park.php
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-12-06/paramount-larry-ellison-hollywood-warner-bros-netflix-skydance-sarandos
📚 Top Stories of the Year – AI & IP
- Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence – First major U.S. AI copyright win
- Thaler v. Perlmutter – AI authorship rejected again at US Supreme Court
- Bartz v. Anthropic – Fair use for training on purchased books, not pirated ones
- Kadrey v. Meta – Transformative use accepted, but with judicial warnings
- Vetter v. Resnick Music Group –Termination rights may reach worldwide, not just US.
- Little v. Llano County – Book bans, libraries, and the First Amendment
🔮 Looking Forward to 2026
Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment
The Supreme Court examines contributory copyright liability for ISPs—potentially reshaping enforcement against platforms and AI intermediaries.
Predictions:
Is 2026 the year of large-scale AI copyright settlements?
CONNECT WITH US
Website: https://entertainmentlawupdate.com
Email: entertainmentlawupdate@gmail.com
Hosted by Gordon Firemark (https://firemark.com) and Tamera Bennett, with managing editor Jon Janacek and contributors Charles Thorn, Alexis Allen, Yuming (Violet) Zhang, and Dawson Holder.
Until next time — that’s showbiz!