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NEWSLETTERS
mrbeast jimmy donaldson
Eriq Gardner October 21, 2025
The yearslong legal feud between YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson and restaurateur Robert Earl is headed back to court this week, with Donaldson arguing that he’s defending his brand and personal integrity—and Earl insisting that Beast Industries cares only about cash.
Brad Smith sam altman
Eriq Gardner October 14, 2025
One area of the law likely to draw more fire is the messy question of who has legal standing to object to A.I. outputs—an issue inflamed, of course, by OpenAI’s unveiling of Sora 2, which sent Hollywood into a familiar panic, scrambling to figure out how to opt out.
Charlie Ergen
Eriq Gardner October 7, 2025
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are suing Dish over Sling TV’s “day passes,” reviving a decades-old grudge match just as ESPN launches its long-awaited stand-alone app—and the industry braces for more existential threats.
Inventing Anna Netflix
Eriq Gardner September 30, 2025
The streamer’s decision not to secure the life rights for one of the key players in the fake heiress saga could prove costly. Plus, news and notes on a $10 million ‘Housewives’ jingle battle and Disney’s next day in court.


Brendan Carr
Eriq Gardner September 23, 2025
The F.C.C. chairman, who held up Shari Redstone’s Paramount sale and isn’t done antagonizing Disney over “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” has never seemed more emboldened as he wields the power of his agency to potentially silence media figures. But a closer reading of the situation suggests that he’s swerving out of his lane.
Spider-man
Eriq Gardner September 16, 2025
As the president expands his legal assault on the media, a former N.S.A. general counsel has argued that the White House should declare a national emergency to seize Hollywood’s I.P. for an A.I. arms race with China. Is it a total fantasy or just a new normal in these strange times?
David Zaslav
Eriq Gardner September 9, 2025
News and notes on a trio of pivotal copyright suits: David Zaslav’s belated broadside against Midjourney, Anthropic’s $1.5 billion payout, and a bizarrely underappreciated TikTok suit playing out in San Francisco.
Carl Rinsch
Eriq Gardner September 2, 2025
Is Carl Rinsch, the erratic auteur behind a big-budget unfinished Netflix series, a calculating grifter who should spend 90 years in prison? Or is he merely a cautionary tale about reckless producing, ambitious prosecution, and the pitfalls of becoming a John Carreyrou protagonist?


Shira Perlmutter
Eriq Gardner August 26, 2025
After successfully squeezing Paramount, ABC, Nvidia, and Intel for payoffs, public genuflection, and profit participation, the president is now working to assert control of the patent and copyright system, too. What’s to stop him from setting up a toll booth for Hollywood I.P.?
robot playing piano china
Eriq Gardner, Ian Krietzberg & Julia Alexander August 12, 2025
The hand-wringing around artificial intelligence is typically focused on the ways it will disrupt content production, but far less attention has been paid to how media platforms will decide to guardrail the technology. In this incisive conversation, Julia Alexander and Ian Krietzberg join Eriq Gardner to break down the legal considerations facing Hollywood, publishing, and the music industry.
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