Eriq Gardner

The CAA Blacklist Comes to Light An Aaron Sorkin protégé’s claim that CAA stole his pilot idea has evolved into a trial over whether the agency steered his career into the Hollywood equivalent of witness protection.

Hollywood’s most powerful talent agency is going to trial next week for allegedly not doing right by a client. Aaron Sorkin and other industry figures will testify. puck.news/did-caa-kill...

Dear Ted,
Take 10% of the $2.8B breakup fee—roughly $280 million—and go hire the best investigative journalists in the world. Build a next-gen 60 Minutes. A better CNN.
Think of the revenge possibilities.

A Spy in Silicon Valley Jim Baugh, the former C.I.A. operative convicted of orchestrating a bizarre scheme to silence two eBay critics, blames the company for its toxic culture—and says he was still working as a spy. Now, th...

Looks like on the eve of trial, there's a settlement in the case concerning the corporation, eBay, which hired a former CIA operative, to spy and harass a pair of nosy journalists. I wrote about the case here: puck.news/jim-baugh-a-...

You earn your P.R. salary when you get them to call you a “whistleblower”

Can Trump Claim His Live Nation Scalp? Next week’s looming government trial against Live Nation is driving settlement chatter to new heights, while raising questions about just how badly the White House wants an antitrust trophy.

A huge trial to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster is less than a week away. Reading tea leaves… puck.news/live-nation-...

Judge who allowed FBI to search Washington Post reporter’s home rips into Justice Department | CNN Politics A federal judge ripped into the Justice Department on Friday for failing to inform him of the applicability of a law intended to protect journalists from government searches and seizures when it asked...

Wow www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/p...

I know the Supreme Court doesn't trifle with such considerations, but maybe not give Trump disappointing legal news on a Friday as he considers launching war?

Kevin Spacey’s $80M Legal House of Cards The disgraced actor is soon expected to sit for a brutal cross-examination in the rare Hollywood insurance dispute that has actually made it to trial. A potentially huge payout hinges on whoever’s ver...

A 5-week trial over Kevin Spacey's departure from "House of Cards" begins today in Santa Monica. Strangely ignored by most reporters, it feature the actor testifying, has $80m (or more) at stake, and tests a novel, impactful issue. Read more here: puck.news/kevin-spacey...

Already a tenth of the way through the year.

I don’t think there’s a news publication more in love with A.I. than Axios. Can’t say it’s really improved, though.

Why Won’t Hollywood Speak Up for TikTok? Despite its free speech history, Hollywood isn’t joining the First Amendment challenges to the U.S. government’s TikTok ban. A deep dive into why studio heads, producers, and writers might be making t...

Hollywood studios sat out the TikTok ban fight—and ByteDance ended up divesting its U.S. operations. Now the M.P.A. is up in arms over Seedance. Would their copyright claims carry more weight if ByteDance still had skin in the U.S. game? puck.news/why-wont-hol...

Will the McConaughey Act Save Hollywood I.P.? Matthew McConaughey trademarked his famous lines to fight deepfakes. Legal experts say it might not stop A.I. impersonation.

And check out my new Matthew McConaughey story puck.news/can-celebrit...

A taste of tonight’s newsletter

Here’s why the culture wars at yesterday’s Netflix-WBD Senate hearing really matter…

The Bad Bunny Lawsuit That Could Destroy Reggaeton As Bad Bunny prepares for the Super Bowl, a copyright suit including Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi, and Pitbull claims that the entire Latin urban music phenomenon was built on top of stolen beats. A rulin...

The case that could destroy Bad Bunny and influence A.I. puck.news/the-bad-bunn...

I’m sure I’m not alone wondering this.

I think this guy (no relation) is suing because he signed up for nudity and, gosh darn-it, he didn't get it. Pretty crazy class action. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Why Trump’s Feds Came for Bezos’s Newsroom Podcast Episode · The Powers That Be: Daily · 01/15/2026 · 19m

I discussed the FBI’s recent raid and seizure in the home of a Washington Post reporter… podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Kevin Spacey’s $80M Legal House of Cards The disgraced actor is soon expected to sit for a brutal cross-examination in the rare Hollywood insurance dispute that has actually made it to trial. A potentially huge payout hinges on whoever’s ver...

Sometime in the next few weeks, Kevin Spacey likely will take the stand in Los Angeles Superior Court and tell jurors that he would have killed himself if he’d had to return for the sixth and final season of House of Cards. puck.news/kevin-spacey...

x v music publishers

A few minutes ago, Elon Musk's X filed a big antitrust case against music publishers over licensing demands www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Some Hollywood news I broke in last night’s WIH newsletter. CAA has lost a big secret arbitration over agents that helped launch Range Media. Read details: puck.news/newsletter_c...

An early contender for silliest lawsuit of the year.

Netflix’s Game of Antitrust Chicken If the streaming giant wins Warner Bros., the feds will almost certainly present its next hurdle. And the Trump Justice Department might ask some questions that Netflix would like to avoid.

New from me: What if the Trump Administration goes REALLY big against Netflix? An unlikely-but-still-conceivable scenario that would redefine how the entire industry operates. puck.news/netflixs-gam...

The CAA-Range Finale, Zaz’s $500M Beef & Trump’s Media Damages Calculator The CAA-Range finale, Zaz’s $500 million beef, and Trump’s media damages calculator: a look ahead at the most consequential media lawsuits and legal crises that will come to their conclusion in the ne...

A look ahead at what I’ll be covering in 2026. puck.news/predicting-t...

🚨 The Nevada Supreme Court has decided that the Rupert Murdoch trust battle was wrongfully closed and kept under seal. A media group has won a petition and now a judge will have to go through hearing transcripts and court docs to determine what really warrants further sealing.

Disney’s Sora Wager & Hollywood’s Next A.I. Legal Battles A field guide to the A.I. cases and deals that will shape 2026, including Disney’s recent peace treaty with OpenAI, the Elon Musk–Sam Altman feud, the next round of labor negotiations, the whole ScarJ...

What if a Sora user creates a fantastic Disney character mashup? Can it be licensed to Netflix? Or put on YouTube to train Google’s A.I.? puck.news/disneys-sora...

Speaking of A.I., I can't watch a criminal-themed TV show these days without thinking, "Will that stand up in court if the defendant claims it was deepfaked?" Latest is Netflix' "Beast in Me," turning on a secretly recorded conversation.

This seems very optimistic.

Why Netflix-WBD may have Hollywood talent lawyering up sooner rather than later. See full newsletter here: puck.news/newsletter_c...

Judgment Day for Netflix’s Profligate Son The incredible saga of Carl Rinsch, who bilked Netflix for millions that he spent on Dogecoin, cars, and a half-million-dollar mattress, has come to trial. Is Rinsch a “creative genius” who merely fai...

Inside one of the strangest white collar trials to hit Hollywood in some time puck.news/did-carl-rin...