Podcasts News Opening Arguments At Least One Disney Lawyer Needs to Be Launched Into the Sun

At Least One Disney Lawyer Needs to Be Launched Into the Sun

Published: Aug. 16, 2024, 8:37 a.m.

OA1060

This week Matt breaks down four very different legal actions:\xa0

1. Donald Trump is suing the United States--yes, the same United States that he is running to be the President of--for $100 million based on the FBI\u2019s alleged violation of the Florida common law tort of \u201cintrusion upon seclusion\u201d in executing a valid search warrant on Mar-A-Lago two years ago. Is Trump just spiking the legal football after his big win in front of federal judge Aileen Cannon in Jack Smith\u2019s documents case, or is there actually something worth talking about here?

2. Is the Walt Disney Corporation actually\xa0arguing that signing up for a 30-day trial of its Disney+ streaming service protects them from the tragically fatal consequences of negligence at a restaurant in its Disney Springs shopping center? Could that really\xa0be a thing that licensed attorneys wrote down, printed, reviewed, signed, and filed with a court? We consider what might be one of the most bizarrely evil defenses ever raised in a wrongful death suit.

3. Soul singer Isaac Hayes\u2019s family has joined the dozens of artists who have spoken out against their music being used at Trump rallies, issuing a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign alleging that it has used\xa0 Hayes\u2019s song \u201cHold On! I\u2019m Coming\u201d at least 134 times even after being asked to stop. To what extent do artists have \u201cmoral rights\u201d under US intellectual property law, and what alternatives are available to them when they don\u2019t? We\xa0 riffing on a particularly interesting failure to harmonize copyright and antitrust law.

4. French authorities have announced that they will investigate claims of cyberbullying against Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, a ciswoman from Algeria who was harassed online by J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and many more of the world\u2019s finest people with completely baseless claims that she was not a biological woman. We debate the merits of this uniquely European approach to criminalizing speech and marvel at the unmatched powers of TERF ideology to rot the human brain (and soul).