Movie

Hollywood Studios Defend Freedom to Have Smoking in Movies Rated Suitable for Children

The major film studios, their trade association and theater owners don’t want to be held hostage to any misguided morality play — not one that seeks to force them not to have any movies with tobacco imagery rated G, PG or PG-13. On Friday, they filed court papers asking a judge to reject a putative class action that blames them for children becoming addicted to nicotine. The lawsuit was filed …


Lawyers Who Won Happy Birthday Copyright Case Sue Over “We Shall Overcome”

“We Shall Overcome,” a song that was the “unofficial anthem to the civil rights movement,” was wrongly placed under copyright and should be put in the public domain, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal court. The complaint (PDF) was filed by the same group of lawyers who succeeded at putting the world’s most famous song, Happy Birthday, into the public domain after years of …