New verse, same as the first in Sony/Michael Jackson case

Serova v. Sony Music Entertainment, 2018 WL 4356891, — Cal.Rptr.3d —-, No. B280526 (Ct. App. 2018)The court amends its opinion finding that Sony’s advertising that Michael Jackson was the performer of all the songs on the posthumous Jackson album Sony released wasn't commercial speech, but the amendment doesn’t make things any better.  This provides an interesting contrast to the other day’s One A Day opinion.  The court here adds a footnote arguing that it didn’t matter whether consumers would have understood Sony’s advertising to make factual claims about the singer’s identity. What mattered instead was Sony’s lack of personal involvement in creating the recordings [pretending that “Sony” is the kind of entity that can have personal involvement]. It’s not that Sony’s statement is opinion (in which case consumer understanding of what claim was being made would be relevant), it’s that…

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