Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Entertainment Law Research Guide

This guide will assist your research on entertainment law including intellectual property, agency, antitrust, contracts, and labor and employment of the film, television, radio, music recording, publishing, theater, and sports industries.

Getting Started with Secondary Sources

When researching an issue or area of law for the first time, we suggest you begin with a secondary source such as a legal encyclopedialegal treatise, or ALR.  Though not comprehensive, this page highlights some specific sources to consider.

Consult our Entertainment Law Treatise Finder for additional texts & study aids.  Also consult our research guides for secondary sources on other specific areas of law related to entertainment law, such as our Sports Law Research GuideArt Law Research GuideMusic Law Research GuideTrademark Law Research Guide, and Copyright Research Guide.

Study Aids

Treatises & Texts

Practice Guides, Handbooks, and Forms

In addition to the above treatises, the below sources are useful for practical guidance:

Finding Additional Sources

The following resources are useful places to look for additional secondary sources on Entertainment Law:

In addition, try searching the law library's catalog for more sources.  Relevant subject headings from our catalog include:

  • Performing arts -- Law and legislation -- United States
  • Entertainers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States
  • Artists' contracts -- United States
  • Popular culture -- United States
  • Intellectual property -- United States
  • Sports -- Law and legislation -- United States

Catalog Searching Tips: To search materials in the catalog by subject, use our Advanced Search. Select "subject" in the first drop-down box, then enter a subject heading (such as one of the above) in the corresponding search box.  You can run the search alone or include additional terms in additional search boxes below.  To find books, it may help to first narrow your search to "Law Library Catalog" or "Georgetown Univ. + Local Academic Libraries" using one of the radio buttons at the top of the page.  After running a search, you can sort by "Date-newest first" on the left to put the most recent materials at the top.  You can also narrow your results to books only on the left under "Resource Type."

Current Awareness and Professional Associations