Welcome to the Multimedia & Entertainment Law Online News (MELON) Blog, published by Berman Entertainment & Technology Law (www.beat-law.com).
MELON strives to bring you straight-forward articles on all aspects of the ever-changing music, film and television industries, and how the rules change (or stay the same) as entertainment moves online.
It is our hope that you will use MELON both as an educational reference for issues like copyright and trademark law and as a source for new media news and analysis.
MELON was created in 1995 by Tony Berman, who saw a need for plainly written, easy-to-understand explanations of how the entertainment industry works.
With the help of other industry insiders, dozens of articles were written and the convergence of technology, content and the law was explored and illuminated on a regular basis.
Flash forward to today, and the on-going publication MELON 2.0. We have rejuvenated some of the old articles and will continue to post insightful rants from the trenches of the new media revolution.
About the MELON team:
Tony Berman is the founder of Berman Entertainment and Technology Law and has over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry.
Tony is an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law where he teaches Negotiating and Drafting Contracts in the Entertainment Business and he has served as chair of the Sports and Entertainment Law Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
He frequently speaks at entertainment and technology industry conferences around the world and has been interviewed by major media outlets including CNN, CNET, NBC, Tech TV, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Wired.
Howie Cockrill is a musician and entertainment and technology attorney in the San Francisco bay area, currently practicing in-house at a local record label and recording studio. Howie received his law degree from the University of San Francisco and has participated as a panelist and moderator for entertainment industry seminars. Prior to practicing law, he was a photo-journalist, blogger and podcaster.