UCLA Entertainment Law Review

Starr v. Sony BMG Music Entertainment illustrates the inherent

tension between copyright holders seeking to enforce their exclusive

rights and antitrust doctrine. In Starr, competing record labels pooled

their copyrights into digital distribution joint ventures, MusicNet and

Pressplay. Such collaboration toes a thin line between cartel-like

conduct and joint venture legitimacy. Competitors in the entertainment

industry have often collaborated to protect their copyrights. While

some of these joint ventures have survived antitrust scrutiny, others

have not. The result is often guided by the choice of antitrust standard

of review: per se or rule of reason.

The current MusicNet/Pressplay litigation demonstrates how the

fundamental tenets of competition law become muddied when

intellectual property owners attempt to use their monopolies to control

new online distribution models. After examining how the choice of

antitrust standard will impact the MusicNet/Pressplay litigation, this

Comment considers how current digital joint ventures between content

owners, Vevo, Hulu and Ultraviolet, would be analyzed under antitrust

doctrine. Despite the record labels' apparent anti-competitive conduct

in MusicNet/Pressplay, the conflicting statutory policies of copyright

and antitrust law, and lack ofjudicial scrutiny in this area suggests the

rule of reason would be more appropriate.