Tag Archives: million

Elvis’ Money Has Left the Building

All shook up

If Lisa Marie Presley gets what she wants, her former business manager will be dancing to the jailhouse rock. The daughter of music & American icon Elvis Presley is suing Barry Siegel for allegedly squandering away the Presley family’s hundred million dollar fortune. The lawsuit, filed in California, states that the Provident Financial Management and specifically Siegel “enriched himself with exorbitant fees”. The business manager then turned around and counter-sued for $800,000 and claims that Lisa Marie has extravagant taste and poor spending habits. Reports claim that the Presley fortune, once worth over $100m USD, is now down to around $15,000. A main recommendation from Siegel to Lisa Marie was an investment in the financial firm behind American Idol, an investment that eventually went bankrupt and turned about $25m in stock to about $500k almost overnight. Read More

College Student to get $4 Million in Settlement

Picture this, only smaller.

No one expects to go to a college party and wind up in a DEA holding cell for 4 days. Daniel Chong, a 25 year old college student is filing suit after being taken into custody during a drug raid at a friend’s house in April of 2012. He was taken into custody, but informed no charges against him would be pursued, and to “hang tight”, the officers would be back to get him in a few minutes. The doors to this cell did not open again for four days, and Daniel had no access to any food or water during this time period. When agents finally discovered Daniel still in this holding cell, he was suffering from hallucinations, dehydration, kidney failure, and a perforated esophagus; for which he needed to be hospitalized for five days. Read more

Microsoft Faces Trouble, But Only On the Surface

Windows closed? Not quite.

Tech giants Microsoft are in hot water over their new tablet, the Surface RT; namely their financial reporting.  Although technologically impressive and a comparable product to the Apple iPad, Microsoft’s latest offering did not exactly fly off the shelves.  Low sales and failed expectations led Microsoft to write down about $900 million.  The class-action lawsuit claims Microsoft committed fraud by falsely reporting information to their investors.  The earnings report in the fourth financial quarter of 2013 was, in simple terms, not good. Read more

Copyright Case: Who Owns “Happy Birthday”?

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Time to blow out the candles

Thinking of video taping that special someone’s Birthday festivities? Not so fast… You may be documenting an unfolding crime. Unbeknownst to myself and the general public, you could potentially be treading the line of infringing upon United States Copyright Law. As soon as the widely believed “timeless classic”, “Happy Birthday to You” ballad escapes your lips you are leaving yourself susceptible to civil lawsuit by the copyright holder; in this case, Warner/Chappell Music Inc. To prevent one’s self from running afoul of the law one must pay the $1500 licensing fee imposed by Warner/Chappell Music Inc.

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Bieber Fever: Star Named in Copyright Lawsuit

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You said you would always be mine

Just like the common cold, pretty much everyone has had Bieber fever, but apparently people are immune to the epidemic. Two songwriters, Devin Copeland and Mareio Overton, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Virginia against the pop star. Justin Beiber and Usher are facing a $10 million lawsuit for supposedly stealing song “Somebody to Love.” Back in 2009, Copeland and Overton claim that “Somebody To Love” was presented to Usher and Jonetta Patton, Usher’s mother, who also plays the role of his manager from time to time, by music scouts. They state that copy was never returned and that they never heard back from Jonetta or anyone associated with the company. Read more