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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
An Influencer Gained Followers as She Documented Her Weight Loss. Then She Revealed She Was on a GLP-1
Hannah E. Taylor is quoted in The Wall Street Journal about social media influencer Janelle Rohner, who shared her weight loss progression with diet and lifestyle tips, selling a paid course on nutrition. When Ms. Rohner posted she was taking a medication used for weight reduction and diabetes, her critics questioned her the legality of her advertising and e-commerce. The article stated, “Hannah Taylor, deputy managing partner and a partner in the advertising, marketing and public relations group at law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, said proving an influencer acted fraudulently is a high bar because many jurisdictions require showing that the defendant had an intent to deceive. False advertising is typically easier to prove. Taylor said if someone had purchased the course believing that it led to Rohner’s weight loss, when in fact the medicine was the cause, that could be a material omission that could subject the influencer to false advertising liability.” View article.
May 30 2025
Mubi’s $24M Bet Just Made Agents Bullish Again. Here’s Why
Hayden Goldblatt is quoted in The Ankler article on Mubi’s purchase of Lynne Ramsay's film, “Die, My Love,” and what it meant for the Cannes market. He’s interviewed on “the real lessons from Cannes.” View article. (Behind paywall)
May 27 2025
A Federal Judge Ordered OpenAI to Stop Deleting Data
Daniel M. Goldberg is quoted in an Adweek article, which reported that a federal judge has ordered OpenAI to stop deleting output data from ChatGPT. This was part of The New York Times lawsuit, alleging OpenAI engaged in copyright infringement “by using ‘millions’ of articles published by the newspaper to train its AI model, which now directly competes with the Times’ content as a result.” The judge’s order seeks to preserve evidence in the Times’ case. Mr. Goldberg addressed mulitple implications of the order, which requires OpenAI to hold more data than they normally would. "That could make OpenAI more susceptible to security breaches, or shake the trust of consumers who expected their chatbot records to be deleted. There are also potential implications regarding energy use, storage and environmental impact that the judge may not have considered when making the order, Goldberg said." He also noted the order would trigger people's concerns about what it means for working with large tecnology providers.
May 21 2025
