Sign Up for Alerts
Sign up to receive receive industry-specific emails from our legal team.
Sign Up for Alerts
We provide tailored, industry-specific legal updates to our clients and other friends of the firm.
Areas of Interest
May 2nd, 2022
Golden Globes’ Proposal to End Nonprofit Status Shredded by Legal Experts: ‘Conflicts All Over the Place’
Charitable Organizations Partner J.J. Leitner was quoted in the article, “Golden Globes’ Proposal to End Nonprofit Status Shredded by Legal Experts: ‘Conflicts All Over the Place’” published by TheWrap. The article discusses the legal and ethical concerns of a plan to reinvent the Golden Globes by turning the Hollywood Foreign Press Association into a for-profit company owned by billionaire Todd Boehly, the current interim CEO. J.J. and other attorneys with knowledge in nonprofits say that a for-profit structure would increase, not decrease, the lack of transparency that has befuddled the organization.
J.J. is quoted saying, “While it’s not illegal to change an organization from a profit to a nonprofit, the company would no longer be required to disclose its revenues, losses and the salaries of top officers as it now does. There’s no transparency when your records are not public anymore. You don’t know what people are getting.”
In regards to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association being a 501(c)6 membership organization rather than a 501(c)3 charitable organization, J.J. says there’s no difference in terms of the type of transparency that’s called for. “Whether you are a 501(c) 6 or a 501(c)3, your return to the IRS is the same form, Form 990. And everybody can look them up… you can look up how much money they make and what they spend, and what they spend it on.” For a membership organization with a voting body that has been challenged on transparency, J.J. says, a private company “just doesn’t make any sense to me. If I were taking this to the California Attorney General, I think it would be an uphill battle to get it approved at that level.”
Additionally, Todd Boehly has confirmed plans to add 200 nonmember voters, addressing the perception that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is less diverse because of its size. J.J. says, “giving a new, and presumably more diverse group the right to vote, but not to share in the proposed profits or salaries paid to members for committee work makes them second-class citizens within the organization.” She adds, “Let’s say [they] want to bring in more voters who presumably will be let’s say somewhere in the BIPOC universe, LGBTQ+ or whatever, [it’s still a] business where the white people are the owners and have a profit interest.” Concluding, “Other people, the new people who are the diversity class, don’t have any ownership. How can that possibly help them with a problem that they have?”
Read the full article here.
Other Quoted
Televerse Day 2 Highlights: Shrinking, Henry Winkler and More
The Television Academy in its Televerse News quoted Daniel M. Goldberg, who spoke about AI at the academy’s three-day festival. Televerse featured television industry professionals both in front of and behind the camera, expert panelists, FYC (For Your Consideration) discussions, and screenings of shows nominated for this year’s Emmy Awards. Mr. Goldberg spoke on a panel covering “how federal and state lawmakers, courts, content creators and other stakeholders are responding to the evolving technology's impact on copyright, licensing and rights protection.” When asked for future predictions for six months from now, Mr. Goldberg responded, "'It's so hard to predict even two weeks from now. But I think you're going to see the states continue to pick up [on regulating AI] where the federal government is not.’” View Article
August 18 2025
Attorney Cautions That Privacy Laws Cover All Platforms, Not Just Sites
Privacy Daily quotes Daniel M. Goldberg in an article on growing trends in privacy laws and enforcement. The publication covered a webinar presented by Mr. Goldberg and Privado CEO Vaibhav Antil. Mr. Goldberg stated, '“although several enforcement actions have targeted websites, mobile apps are also subject to all privacy laws'” He noted how it’s no longer enough for companies to rely on privacy vendors for compliance but must practice due diligence. Mr. Goldberg reviewed California enforcement actions against Honda, Todd Snyder, and Healthline.
“With all three of these examples, ‘these are not companies that did nothing,” he said. ‘These are companies that had measures in place, that had actually used a vendor to implement them, but the way that it was configured was not tracking the law perfectly.’” He also pointed out how enforcements and fines are rising. View Article. (Registration required.)
July 31 2025
Data Privacy Roundup
The AdExchanger newsletter quotes Daniel M. Goldberg, highlighting key privacy enforcement trends. He provided an example of how opting in cookie tracking by clicking a bold “Allow All” button contrasted with declining tracing, which required a more involved two-step process. Mr. Goldberg pointed out that regulators saw this process as a “potential dark pattern.” “‘Symmetry of choice is the idea that it should be just as easy to accept as it is to reject,’” Goldberg said. ‘It’s an area regulators are looking very, very closely at.’” He also noted dark pattern fines, especially with the CPPA could become substantially larger. He underscored due diligence in programs, referencing recent privacy enforcement setttlements and fines. “‘All these cases involve vendor solutions that did not work,’ Goldberg said. ‘In almost all of them, the company did have privacy compliance in place; it just wasn’t working.’” View Article
July 25 2025
