cultivating enterprise
Yoho Law is Closing
Yoho Law is no longer accepting new clients.
If you are a current or former client, please feel free to reach out to my office. I will be happy to answer any questions you have regarding your matter, any aspect of representation, or recommendations for subsequent counsel. My phone number and email will remain active so long as this webpage is up, which is likely to extend through 2023.
I appreciate having had the opportunity of representing you; so thank you again for your business over the years. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Entertainment & Media Services
Business and industry-specific legal services for entertainment and media organizations
Business Matters
- Business structures, corporate compliance, and governance
- Business transactions, including contracts, leases, and purchase agreements
- Negotiation, structuring, and general counsel services
- Representation in litigation and administrative hearings
Concerts, Live Events, & Theaters
- Production agreements
- Merchandising, touring, and appearance agreements
- Endorsements, sponsorships, advertising, promotions, and brand agreements
- Production, management, and agency representation agreements
- Venue and rental agreements
- Municipal regulatory issues
- Service provider contracts
- Union and employment issues
- Insurance and risk management issues
- Clearance and intellectual property matters
News Media
- Publishing, buy-sell, and local marketing agreements
- Subpoena defense
- Protection of journalistic work product
- Nebraska and federal public records and open meetings laws
- Freedom of Information Act
- FCC regulation
- Newsrack ordinances
- First amendment and prior restraint issues
- Privacy rights issues
- Defamation
- Intellectual property and fair use
- Prepublication and prebroadcast content review
- Newsgathering issues
Film, Television, & Radio
- Production, option, and related media agreements
- Finance, production, post production, and distribution
- Chain of title issues
- Talent agreements (screenwriters, directors, actors, composers, production designers, etc.)
- Production, post production, and distribution issues
- Trade union issues
- Intellectual property matters
- Broadcast licensing and regulatory issues
- Mechanical and synchronization rights
Music
- Recording, production, distribution, songwriting, and publishing agreements
- Talent agreements (musicians, composers)
- Intellectual property issues and licensing agreements
- Merchandising, touring, and appearance agreements
- Endorsements, sponsorships, advertising, promotions, and brand agreements
- Publishing and print media issues
- Manager and agent representation agreements
- Music producer, composer, and soundtrack agreements
Software, Gaming, Multimedia, & Digital Media
- Strategic consulting
- Development, distribution, licensing, and publishing agreements
- Sponsorship, promotional, advertising, and branding agreements
- Negotiation and structuring of joint ventures
- Negotiation and drafting of talent and spokesperson agreements
- Privacy, security, and data collection policies and regulations
- User-generated content and social media issues
- Intellectual property use, licensing, and infringement
Visual Arts & Design, Publishing, & Print Media
- Advertising, model, publishing, and author agreements
- Consignment of artworks to art dealers
- Moral rights regarding works in public spaces
- General intellectual property matters, particularly copyright
Entertainment & Media Organizations
- Production companies and studios
- Digital media companies
- Software companies
- Game developers
- Advertising and marketing businesses
- News organizations
- Sports teams and leagues
- Traditional publishers
- Radio and TV stations
- Loan-out companies
- Venues, clubs, galleries, stadiums, and arenas
and other organizations in the entertainment and media industries.
Entertainment & Media Professionals
- Producers, directors, and talent
- Musicians and composers
- Sports professionals
- Investors and financiers
- Writers and authors
- YouTubers and streamers
- Agents and managers
- Personalities and models
- Journalists and reporters
- Photographers
- Artists and designers
- Software and game developers
and other entertainment and media professionals.
Representation for All Stages of Production
Yoho Law offers legal services for all stages of production. Whether you are looking for limited advice on a particular concern or looking for ongoing representation at every step of production, Yoho Law can help.
Creating, acquiring, and managing a project is rife with pitfalls that Yoho Law can help you avoid:
- Idea protection, through copyright, nondisclosure agreements and submission releases;
- Collaboration concerns and joint authorship matters;
- Acquisition of rights and related option and purchase agreements; and
- Chain of title concerns.
Working relationships on set or stage can be unpredictable. Yoho Law provides or advice on unexpected issues that arise during production:
- Production service and product placement agreements;
- Cast and crew matters;
- Producer, director, and crew services agreements;
- State and municipal production incentives;
- Financing matters and letters of intent; and
- Guild issues.
Production matters often give rise to legal concerns that Yoho Law can assist with:
- Extras and depiction releases;
- Location agreements;
- On-set intellectual property issues (artwork licenses, trademarks, etc.);
- Union grievance claims;
- Unplanned events such as illness, safety issues, and weather that can influence schedules and locations;
- Content review; and
- E&O and other contractual obligations.
During post-production, Yoho Law can assist in:
- Post-production staff issues;
- Music licensing and commissions;
- Film clip license agreements;
- Guild compliance and union claims;
- Credit determination issues; and
- Copyright.
As a product comes to fruition, new issues arise with getting the work out to the public. Yoho Law can contribute to matters arising during this important phase:
- Distribution rights and agreements;
- Copyright matters;
- Marketing and advertising concerns;
- Screen credits and credits in advertising material;
- Use of excerpts for marketing and exploitation purposes;
- Touring and merchandising;
- Performance and exhibition rights and reservations; and
- Exploitation in new or secondary markets.
News Media Services
Yoho Law can assist news media in litigation involving defamation, access to documents and meetings, privacy rights, and the like. The Firm provides counseling on questions arising under the Nebraska and federal public records and open meetings laws, the Freedom of Information Act, copyright law, and local newsrack and solicitation ordinances. The Firm can assist reporters and photographers in resisting subpoenas from civil and criminal litigants who seek unpublished journalistic work product. The Firm also offers prepublication and prebroadcast review of news stories and books and advises clients in connection with publishing agreements for books, works of art, music, and computer software.
Experience and Familiarity
Knowledge of Guild Agreements & Requirements
Yoho Law provides insight on important guild and association agreements, including those with:
- Writers Guild of America (WGA)
- Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)
- Directors Guild of America (DGA)
- American Federation of Musicians
- International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)