MELON strives to bring you straight-forward articles on all aspects
of the ever-changing music, film and television industries, and how the
rules change (or stay the same) as entertainment moves online.
It is our hope that you will use MELON both as an educational
reference for issues like copyright and trademark law and as a source
for new media news and analysis.
MELON was created in 1995 by Tony Berman, who saw a need for plainly
written, easy-to-understand explanations of how the entertainment
industry works.
With the help of other industry insiders, dozens of articles were
written and the convergence of technology, content and the law was
explored and illuminated on a regular basis.
Flash forward to today, and the on-going publication MELON 2.0. We
have rejuvenated some of the old articles and will continue to post
insightful rants from the trenches of the new media revolution.
About the MELON team:
Tony Berman is the founder of Berman Entertainment and Technology
Law and has over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry.
Tony is an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law
where he teaches Negotiating and Drafting Contracts in the
Entertainment Business and he has served as chair of the Sports and
Entertainment Law Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
He frequently speaks at entertainment and technology industry
conferences around the world and has been interviewed by major media
outlets including CNN, CNET, NBC, Tech TV, The New York Times, The Wall
Street Journal, Business Week and Wired.
Howie Cockrill is an associate at Berman Entertainment and
Technology Law. Howie received his law degree from the University of
San Francisco and has participated as a panelist and moderator for
entertainment industry seminars.
Howie is also the founder of CrazyTalk.org, a blog about independent
music. Prior to practicing law, he worked as a photo-jouralist, blogger
and podcaster.
Go to the
MELON website.
