It appears that Stephen Colbert doesn’t own “Stephen Colbert.” Rather, Colbert, the host of CBS’s “The Late Show,” doesn’t own the rights to the character he developed and played for almost 20 years on Comedy Central.

On Wednesday, Colbert announced on his show that the “Stephen Colbert” character from “The Colbert Report” is the intellectual property of Viacom, Comedy Central’s parent company, and would “never be seen again.” In response to disappointed “boos” by the audience, he responded, “I understand, but what can I do? The lawyers have spoken. I cannot reasonably argue I own my face or name.”

Last week, he brought back his former alternate persona in order to make sense of the Trump nomination, using one of his signature bits called “The Word.”

After the show aired, however, “corporate lawyers” from Colbert’s former network allegedly reached out to claim their IP over the character. “Stephen Colbert,” the faux-conservative newsman, was a feature on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” before receiving his own show on the network in 2005. Last year, Colbert retired the character after taking over for David Letterman on CBS.

While this may be sad news for the “Colbert Nation,” don’t fret just yet: Colbert may have found a suitable alternative. After announcing the end of “Stephen Colbert,” he introduced “Stephen Colbert’s identical twin, “Stephen Colbert,” who may be a worthy replacement. He also introduced his new segment “WERD,” which bears only a slight resemblance to “The Word.”

So far, there is no news on whether Viacom’s legal team has fired back to challenge the eerie similarities between the new “Colbert” and his retired cousin.

The Hollywood Reporter notes the legal complexities surrounding this case, and explains why “Stephen Colbert’s identical twin cousin” may avoid copyright infringement claims and may actually be able to qualify for its own copyright. However, the article notes that if the new character earns a separate copyright, it would probably be owned by CBS rather than Colbert himself. So, let’s hope that Colbert stays where he is, otherwise, he may need to pull out another extended family member if he wants his satirical alter-ego to live on.

While Colbert himself may have abandoned his Comedy Central show last year, it appears he hasn’t let go of the character that millions have grown to love.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

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On Thursday, October 23, 2014, NBCUniversal agreed to pay $6.4 million to settle claims that it violated labor laws over its unpaid internship program.  NBCUniversal’s decision to settle is pivotal because it marks a huge step toward eliminating unpaid internship programs completely.

The lawsuit against NBCUniversal began when Monet Eliastam, the lead plaintiff of the lawsuit, interned at Saturday Night Live for 25 hours per week or more and did not receive compensation. She and other unpaid interns filed a class-action lawsuit and sued NBCUniversal. Elisastam claimed, according to the Hollywood Reporter, that NBCUniversal “misclassified its workers as unpaid interns and thus denied them benefits like a minimum wage salary, overtime pay, social security contributions, and unemployment insurance.”

The Hollywood Reporter further reports that a United States District Court will have to approve the settlement, but if it stands, $1.18 million of the total $6.4 million will go to plaintiffs’ attorneys, Elliastam will receive a $10,000 service payment, and five other plaintiffs will receive service payments of $5,000 and $2,000 rewards. The rest will go to NBCUniversal interns, and the average settlement payment to interns will be $505 for those who interned in New York since July 3, 2007, in California since February 4, 2010, and in other states since February 4, 2011.

Unpaid interns have filed cases against Fox, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Viacom, and companies like Conde Nast have also settled unpaid internship cases. Unpaid internship cases are thus becoming the norm, which it should be.

As a law student, I have had my fair share of unpaid internships. One summer, I worked 35-40 hours per week at an entertainment company and did not receive a dime. Instead, I received credit and had to take an externship class. On the surface, that may not seem terrible because I got to apply three more credits to my total needed to graduate. However, I had to pay a few thousand dollars to take the externship class because the minimum amount of credits that my loan would pay for was six, and my externship class was only three.

It doesn’t take much to realize how unfair that is. Not only did I give the company free labor, but I was out a few thousand dollars in order to get that free labor. Where is the logic in that? There is none.  The unpaid internship system is designed to take total advantage of students just so the student can put that company’s name on his or her resume. The school makes money, and the company gets free labor.

Even for students who take internships or externships during the school year and do not have the student loans issue that I did, no one wants to take a class in addition to interning.  Especially in law school, students are so busy that externship classes take a back seat to a student’s more substantive school work, internships, law journals, and/or moot court.

Moreover, the entertainment companies exist in, not surprisingly, the most expensive cities in the country. Students can’t live on unpaid internships — not when your average lunch in New York City, for example, is around $10 or more. It’s simply not feasible. Yes, you can argue that students can live on student loans, but that misses the point.  Students want to be compensated for their work and be valued as integral employees. It’s as simple as that.

Fortunately, companies are starting to pay interns because companies do not want to be victims, which has been echoed to me in several legal internship interviews.

Hopefully interns will finally begin to get paid for their work across the board, and students will not have to experience what I and millions of other students have.

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Joseph Perry (@jperry325) is a 3L at St. John’s University whose goal is to become a publishing and media law attorney. He has interned at William Morris Endeavor, Rodale, Inc., Columbia University Press, and is currently interning at Hachette Book Group and volunteering at the Media Law Resource Center, which has given him insight into the legal aspects of the publishing and media industries.

Featured image courtesy of [Knot via Flickr]

Joseph Perry

Joseph Perry is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law whose goal is to become a publishing and media law attorney. He has interned at William Morris Endeavor, Rodale, Inc., Columbia University Press, and is currently interning at Hachette Book Group and volunteering at the Media Law Resource Center, which has given him insight into the legal aspects of the publishing and media industries. Contact Joe at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post NBCUniversal Settles With Unpaid Interns for $6.4 Million appeared first on Law Street.

In today’s installment of completely cringe-worthy legal news, a contestant on VH1 reality show “Dating Naked” is suing the company for…being shown naked while dating.

Jessie Nizewitz, a 28-year-old model from New York, filed suit for $10 million this week against VH1, parent company Viacom, and two production companies for failing to blur out her crotch during a beach wrestling scene. (Yes, you read that correctly: naked beach wrestling on a first date being filmed for a reality TV show. That’s some serious other-level confidence.) Take a look at the Today Show’s clip below if you’re unfamiliar with the show, though I’m betting it’s exactly what you’re imagining in your head already.

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Now in all honesty, I kind of love this show. My friend and I discovered it a few weeks ago while watching The Soup, and subsequently binge watched all the episodes available On Demand (sadly there were only three at the time). If you haven’t seen it, or are sticking to the story that you would never watch such base programming, let me fill you in: contestants are flown to a private island where they bare their souls and birthday suits to strangers while participating in decidedly unromantic activities (naked four wheeling, anyone?) all in the hope that they will find that special someone.

According to Nizewitz, the show’s producers verbally promised that only contestants’ butts would be shown, with all other good stuff blurred out. There’s no mention of this assurance in a written contract, but that of course wouldn’t negate its validity depending on location. In an interview with the New York Post, Nizewitz expressed disappointment that a man she’d been seeing for a month disappeared after the episode aired: “He was employed, Jewish, in his 30s and that’s pretty much ideal.”

Setting aside the obvious here that Nizewitz was participating in a television show built entirely around being naked, it does seem that she had a reasonable expectation that her body would be blurred for broadcast. A $10 million expectation? We’ll find out soon enough. Until then, I’m still tuning in to this bizarre and uncomfortable social experiment. Because honestly, who doesn’t enjoy watching nascent relationships bud over naked tumbling, basket weaving, and Zumba classes?

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Chelsey Goff (@cddg) is Chief People Officer at Law Street. She is a Granite State native who holds a Master of Public Policy in Urban Policy from the George Washington University in DC. She’s passionate about social justice issues, politics — especially those in First in the Nation New Hampshire — and all things Bravo. Contact Chelsey at cgoff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured imaged courtesy of [Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr]

Chelsey D. Goff

Chelsey D. Goff was formerly Chief People Officer at Law Street. She is a Granite State Native who holds a Master of Public Policy in Urban Policy from the George Washington University. She’s passionate about social justice issues, politics — especially those in First in the Nation New Hampshire — and all things Bravo. Contact Chelsey at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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