Have you seen any of these movies?  Puss in Boots - A Furry Tail?  American Battleship?  Chop Kick Panda?

They're not what you think they are.

With plots and designs that depict an obvious resemblance to Hollywood’s major movie titles, smaller entertainment companies are playing off of big-name studios and attempting to deceive consumers into thinking their movies are the same films found in the theatres.

Since the start of knockoff films, with the first studios creating an obvious depiction of a major movie title in the 1950s, knockoff films have continuously been on the rise and have become a bigger and bigger problem each year with significant advancements in technology.

Jon Steinsapir, partner at Kinsella Weitzman, shares with us the story behind the controversial mockbuster industry and some of the legal implications concerning these knockoff films.

We’ve got a great episode for you this month highlighting the legal aspects of some major news stories. To start, our “Chaos in the Courts” segment features an interesting story about an alleged burglar who was found stuck under the garage door of a Rent-A-Center store.

Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment we feature a blog post about an infringement suit involving an 80’s guitar player and an NBA player.

Our interview segment is with Josh Roth of Eisner Kahan & Gorry, who talks with us about the street murals of Los Angeles and the recent attention they have been given by city legislators working to put in place a new ordinance to end the ban on artistic murals.

We then wrap-up with our “In the News” segment featuring a story from Thomson Reuters News & Insight about the largest case of healthcare fraud in U.S. history.  

The City of Los Angeles is considering an ordinance that would permit the legal creation of public murals on certain buildings.  Legal Current's Rachel Billman talked with Josh Roth, an intellectual property attorney at Eisner, Kahan and Gorry on the impact of the proposed new ordinance.

A great episode discussing IP wars between smartphone companies and legal issues surrounding Google.

Why are all the major smartphone manufacturers suing each other?

Stan Gibson, partner and chair of the patent litigation group at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell talks about why smartphone patent litigation is spreading.

We’ve got a great episode for you this month, with several segments highlighting the legal aspects of some recent news stories including the incident at the Heart Attack Grill as well as the latest on the lawsuits relating to the Italian cruise ship disaster.

Our interview segment is with Robert Brownstone, Technology and E-Discovery Counsel at Fenwick & West LLP where we learn more about what could happen to companies who illegally destroy electronic evidence.

2011 might have ended on a bit of a low note for IPOs in many industries, but the energy sector isn’t one of them. To learn more about why this industry is barreling forward with stock offerings when others are pulling back, we are speaking with Rob Reedy, managing partner at Porter Hedges in Houston to talk about how the energy sector is uniquely positioned for success.