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Brittany Walter is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's San Diego (Del Mar) office. She is the associate co-lead of the firm’s Blockchain and Fintech Team as well as the firm’s Technology & Commercial Transactions Team.

Introduced in response to certain digital media sellers (e.g., game publishers) revoking consumer access to purchases with little to no recourse, AB 2426 forces sellers of “digital goods,” such as movies, apps, games, books and music to clarify what a consumer is actually receiving in connection with their “purchase.” Often companies refer to the “purchase” or “sale” of digital goods, yet the associated terms of service make clear that the buyer only receives a revocable license to the such goods. In some cases, if a buyer violates the terms of service, the license is revoked and the user is denied further access to the digital goods. In other cases, a buyer may be denied access to digital goods it has “purchased” if the digital media platform shuts down.Continue Reading New California Law Targets Sellers of Digital Goods

“NFT” was 2021’s word of the year.  This isn’t too surprising—they’re everywhere!  The market cap for NFT transactions jumped from roughly $400 million at the beginning of 2021 to over $7 billion by year’s end.  What’s next and how can brands and other content creators leverage NFTs to bring value?
Continue Reading Thinking of Jumping on the NFT Bandwagon – Are you Prepared?

Around 311 million people in the United States—roughly nine out of ten Americans—are under instructions to “Stay Home!”

These captive audiences have resulted in a 17% increase in TV viewership across all demographics.  Indeed, adults aged 18-34—a demographic that has been increasingly difficult for advertisers to reach on ad-supported television—spent 83 million more hours watching TV during the first week of the lockdown as compared to the last week in February.
Continue Reading How the COVID-19 Lockdown will Disrupt the Upfront TV Ad Market

On Wednesday, amid growing concern over the spread of  Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19” or “coronavirus”), the Italian government announced that all sporting events in Italy will resume.  The catch?  They will all take place behind closed doors—no spectators will be allowed to attend for at least the next month.

Italy, as the epicenter of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak, previously undertook drastic measures to slow the virus’ spread—closing all schools in the country, cancelling sporting events, and instituting bans on other public gatherings across the country.

While the epidemic has not yet reached similar proportions in the US, the virus’ spread has also not shown any sign of slowing down.  Could similar measures be taken in the US?  If so, what does this mean for event organizers and brand sponsors?

Brands pay big bucks—in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars—to sponsor high profile sporting, entertainment, and cultural events. What are the repercussions if event organizers are forced to cancel sponsored events because of the coronavirus outbreak?  Does the analysis change if the events go on as scheduled, but spectators are banned from attending?

force majeure; CVOID 19; Coronavirus
Continue Reading Coronavirus: Are Spectator Bans the Worst Case Scenario for Brand Sponsors?