NYU Journal of Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law

All Drake needed was “a One Dance,” but recent litigation alleges it’s the record industry that’s been two-stepping with payola all along. Last year, Drake’s team filed petitions in Texas and New York alleging that Universal Music Group and iHeartMedia engaged in “deliberate, irregular, and inappropriate business practices – including covert and illegal pay-to-play (‘payola’) deals – to create a …

The issue of personal data deletion has become a core concern in global data governance. Admittedly, many companies have provided ways for consumers to opt out in the face of legal pressures. Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce,” which can be expanded to regulate companies that fail to offer an opt-out …

Background In recent years, it has become increasingly complex for multinational companies to navigate the maze of data compliance challenges. On April 8, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) implementing Executive Order 14117, entitled “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of…

Panel 1: Digital Performers and Virtual Creators In Entertainment - Moderator: Alex De La Rua, NYU Law ’26, JIPEL Symposium Chair Alex De La Rua is a third-year student at NYU School of Law and the current Symposium Editor of the Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law (JIPEL), where he organizes the journal’s annual symposium and helps convene leading scholars, attorneys, and indu…

If you think Hollywood has been recycling your childhood lately, you’re not wrong. Whether it’s Disney’s live-action remakes of Snow White and Lilo & Stitch, DreamWorks’ live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon, or DC Studios’ reboot of Superman, the recent media landscape has been saturated with nostalgia. Streaming platforms have grown drastically in recent years, yet a new trend is emer…

Introduction Death is a central theme lingering in Damien Hirst’s art. Now, it’s making an appearance in an all-new way. In May of 2025, in an interview with the London Times, Hirst announced an unprecedented artistic and legal experiment: a plan to “create” artworks for 200 years after his death. He calls them “posthumous paintings;” his manager calls them “preposterous paintings.” To execute th…

After almost two decades of near-unsupervised digital currency innovation, the United States has finally enacted legislation targeting one corner of the cryptocurrency (or “crypto”) ecosystem. In July 2025, President Trump signed the GENIUS (Guaranteeing National Infrastructure in U.S. Stablecoins) Act into law. Though limited only to the regulation of stablecoins (a particular type of cryptocurr…

You may view and download a PDF of the complete issue here. Our Fall 2025 Issue—Volume 15, Number 1—examines how intellectual property doctrine is straining (and adapting) across a set of fast-moving technological and institutional shifts: ubiquitous digital copying, platform governance by private ordering, changing creative-production economics, state-directed innovation policy, and the procedur…

Jessica Silbey* & Samantha Zyontz** Download a PDF version of this article here. In the internet age, the copyright de minimis defense has increased in relevance as copyright lawsuits (and IP generally) are more mainstream and infringement liability more widespread. This Article is the first empirical analysis of copyright de minimis defense cases, collecting and analyzing all such decisions sinc…

Sean A. Pager* & Eric Priest** Download a PDF version of this article here. Commentators have repeatedly claimed that digital technologies render producers and recording engineers effectively obsolete. Supposedly, any DIY musician with a laptop and GarageBand can make home recordings that sound just as good as professionals in a high-end studio. The result is a dramatic reduction in the cost of m…

Michael P. Goodyear* Download a PDF version of this article here. Platform liability is a complex landscape under U.S. law. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has generated significant scholarly and political interest due to providing platforms with broad immunity for their users’ torts. In addition, many intellectual property law scholars have examined the […]

Taorui Guan* Download a PDF version of this article here. As the United States and China compete ever more intensely for technological primacy in fields ranging from artificial intelligence to semiconductors, patent systems have emerged as an important factor shaping both nations’ trajectories. In the United States, patents function largely as market-based tools to incentivize […]

Ben Anderson * Download a PDF version of this article here. AI platforms present a challenge for our current doctrines of secondary copyright infringement. Currently, AI platforms’ degree of exposure to secondary liability depends on the way a platform is structured and presented to users. The staple-article rule as first articulated by the Supreme Court […]

Cindy L. Chang* Download a PDF version of this article here. Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence have fueled a wave of copyright class action litigation by authors, artists, and other rightsholders who allege that AI developers have unlawfully copied protected works at scale to build training datasets. But the public policy debate over fair […]

It’s no secret that lawyers are not scientists. The data is clear. An incredibly small portion of law school applicants, and later lawyers, have backgrounds in STEM. What follows is a judiciary unfamiliar with technical fields increasing in importance each day. The data is clear here as well. As science advances the technical judicial competency […]

Social media may prove to be a new tool in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) searches. In its privacy policy, Meta purports to only comply with government requests for user information when those requests are “consistent with applicable law” and the company’s own policies. Among these is Meta’s Data Policy, which includes its […]

Formula 1 (“F1”) has been rapidly growing, with each season bringing new rules and upgrades aimed at enhancing fan engagement, improving driver safety, and fueling the sport’s global momentum. New Grand Prix events are being added across the United States, fans can watch live onboard cameras of their favorite drivers, and F1 drivers are frequent […]

Now more than ever, the music industry is at a crossroads, balancing the potential benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for artistic production. AI music generators, like Soundful and Suno, have become increasingly sophisticated, allowing users to create songs from text prompts, extract vocals from existing works, and transform lyrics into […]

Few phrases carry more weight or more risk than “based on a true story.” It promises authenticity while leaving room for invention, persuading viewers that what they are about to see actually happened. Yet as the Netflix series Baby Reindeer has shown, the line between dramatization and defamation can be perilously thin. The show’s acclaim […]

Introduction The punitive damages system for trademark infringement serves as an important legal mechanism to combat malicious conduct and protect brand value. Although both China and the United States employ punitive damages as a mechanism to deter intentional infringement, their approaches differ significantly due to distinct legal traditions and policy objectives, particularly in legal foundat…