Tag: California
Respondents File Brief in Supreme Court in Davis v. Electronic Arts
Michael Davis and the other retired football players who sued Electronic Arts for the use of their identities in Madden NFL filed their opposition brief today in the Supreme Court. They argue against granting certiorari in the case. The Ninth Circuit previously held that the alleged use of the players' identities is not protected by...
Class Action by Lawyers Against Website with Attorney Profiles
A class action has been filed on behalf of California attorneys against the website Avvo, a service that provides attorney profiles sometimes without the attorneys' consent. Avvo collects public information about various attorneys such as name, specialities, years in practice and firm information and provides that information in a searchable database that sometimes also includes...
REVISED — L.A. Court Allows Reese Witherspoon to Proceed with Right of Publicity Claim Against Jeweler
(Revised to reflect final court order) On Tuesday, a court ruled that Reese Witherspoon could proceed with her right of publicity claims against a number of defendants who had used her name and image to sell various products, particularly jewelery. One company allegedly named an engagement ring, Reese, in reference to the famous actor. The...
More Musicians Object to Uses of their Music in Political Campaigns
Today, Rude Music filed a complaint in a federal district court in Illinois for the use of the song “Eye of the Tiger” by Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. The song by the band Survivor was the theme song in the movie Rocky III which topped the charts at the time. Huckabee played the song at...
An Image Protection Service Sues LA Jewelry Store for Using Former Playboy Model’s Likeness
Timed Out LLC, a California company, that advertises its image protection services to models has sued LA Girl Jewelry for using Tiffany Toth's image and likeness in its advertisements. The complaint alleges that Toth assigned her right to sue to Timed Out. This complaint is another in the increasing trend of suits brought by companies...
Constitutional Law and Intellectual Property Law Professors Call on Supreme Court to Review Davis
Professor Eugene Volokh (UCLA) and I filed a brief today in support of granting certiorari in Davis v. Electronic Arts. The brief was signed on to by many leading constitutional law and IP law scholars. We call on the Supreme Court to address the disarray among lower courts about how to analyze the First Amendment...
Another Biopic lawsuit – This Time Straight Outta Compton
With success often comes lawsuits and the movie Straight Outta Compton is no exception. On Friday, the music manager Jerry Heller sued NBC Universal and others involved with the film claiming that the character in the film played by actor Paul Giamatti misappropriates his identity by using his name and likeness. The complaint also alleges...
Another Right of Publicity Suit Against a Strip Club
Yet another right of publicity lawsuit against a strip club was filed yesterday for the alleged use of models' images to promote the club without their permission. This suit was filed in California state court against the Play Pen gentleman’s club in Los Angeles, a venue that unsuccessfully tried to stop the popular video game,...
8th Circuit Appears Divided in Dryer v. NFL Oral Arguments
The oral arguments from last Thursday’s hearing before the 8th Circuit in Dryer highlight a host of flashpoints in right of publicity law. The arguments focused on whether the use of historical film clips constituted commercial speech. The plaintiffs’ attorney claimed that the use by the NFL was clearly commercial speech and therefore not entitled...
EA Files Cert. Petition in Davis v. Electronic Arts
On Monday, EA filed a Petition seeking Supreme Court review in Davis v. Electronic Arts, 775 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2015). The video game maker asks the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit and hold that the use of realistic depictions of people in expressive works, including video games, is protected by the First...