Tag: California

Aretha Franklin Gets Documentary Film Pulled from Film Festivals

A lawsuit filed by famous recording artist, Aretha Franklin, against a documentary filmmaker, Allan Elliott, led to the pulling of his documentary film, “Amazing Grace,” from the line-ups at numerous prestigious film festivals, including Telluride and Toronto.  Ms. Franklin claims that the film violated her right of publicity by using some concert footage of her...
Continue reading

Decision in O’Bannon v. NCAA Provides Right of Publicity Edge to the NCAA

The Ninth Circuit’s decision last week upholding the application of antitrust laws to the NCAA, has several implications for student-athletes and their rights of publicity.  The appellate court’s holding that the NCAA could retain its rules requiring students to remain amateur means that student-athletes cannot receive compensation for uses of their names or likenesses, or...
Continue reading

Student-Athletes Lose Right of Publicity Claim for Licensed Use of NCAA Photographs

On March 6, 2015, a district court in California held that the student-athletes claims against T3Media for its Paya.com website were preempted by copyright law.  The NCAA gaver T3Media permission to display and sell photographs of NCAA athletes.  In an opinion that only adds to the confusion over how to assess when right of publicity...
Continue reading

Ninth Circuit Denies Rehearing in Davis v. Electronic Arts

The Ninth Circuit denied rehearing in its controversial decision in Davis v. Electronic Arts that the use of real professional athletes identities in a video game was not protected by the First Amendment.  This decision leaves at risk numerous expressive and nonfiction works that include portrayals of historical fiction.  For a detailed analysis of why...
Continue reading