Entertainment & IP Litigation

In 2026, hundreds of new laws will affect litigation and business operations across California and New York. This update highlights significant statutory and regulatory developments with practical implications for in-house legal teams and practitioners, spanning civil litigation, corporate governance, employment, real estate, artificial intelligence, and cannabis.

The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, recently revisited the appealability of district court denials of anti-SLAPP motions. For over two decades, immediate appeals of such denials were permitted. However, relying on the strict limits of the collateral order doctrine, the Ninth Circuit has reversed this stance, holding that anti-SLAPP denials are not immediately appealable in federal court. Consequently, where an anti-SLAPP motion is litigated in federal court, parties must now litigate to final judgment before seeking appellate review of an anti-SLAPP motion denial. Gopher Media LLC v. Melone, 154 F.4th 696 (9th Cir. 2025) (en banc). This rule stands in sharp contrast to California state court procedure, which permits immediate appeals from anti-SLAPP denials.

On October 12, 2022, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case that will shape the way artists across disciplines create and protect their copyrighted works. The case, Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, involves a 1981 portrait of Prince taken by renowned rock and roll photographer Lynn Goldsmith. In 1984, the late American visual artist, film director, and producer Andy Warhol “transformed” the portrait into a set of 16 silkscreens and sketches, referred to as the “Prince Series.” The Supreme Court will soon decide whether, for the purpose of determining whether an accused work is protected by the Copyright Act’s fair use defense, a work of art that conveys a different meaning or message from its source material is “transformative,” or whether courts can even consider the accused work’s meaning where it recognizably derives from its source material.