Tag: First Amendment
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...
First Amendment Protects Use of Videogamer’s Likeness in Cartoon Network Animated Series
Billy Mitchell, a well-known videogame player with world records for classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, sued Cartoon Network for allegedly using his likeness for a character in The Regular Show. The animated comedy series follows two animals, a blue jay and a raccoon. In one episode, titled High Score, a character named...
Article in Virginia Law Review Documents Expansive Reach of the Right of Publicity
My latest article, Commercial Speech, Commercial Use and the Intellectual Property Quagmire, is in print this week in the Virginia Law Review. The article considers the role in intellectual property laws of commercial speech doctrine and considerations of commerciality more generally (usually in the sense of a use that is for profit). In terms of right...
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...
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...
NFL Players Sue FanDuel for its Fantasy Football Game
Pierre Garcon and other NFL Players filed suit today in federal district court in Maryland claiming that their names and likenesses were misapproriated in FanDuel's fantasy football game. The complaint includes both right of publicity and false endorsement claims. No question that here is another looming First Amendment collision with the right of publicity. The...
Singer-Songwriter Sues for Unwitting Product Placement Arising out of Interview
Nafeesha Madyun, aka Esnavi has sued for right of publicity violations under New York Civil Rights Law Sections 50 & 51 for the allegedly unwitting product placement of a Hyundai in her consenusal interview when that interview was repurposed in an ad campaign by the automaker. The case raises some interesting questions about the legitimacy...
Hasbro Contends that Same-Named Hamster Does Not Evoke Newscaster’s Identity
Hasbro filed a motion Monday to dismiss newscaster Harris Faulkner's right of publicity claim against the toy maker for giving a stuffed hamster toy the same name as her. The defendant contends that because the hamster toy looks nothing like the newscaster and the use of her name alone does not evoke Ms. Faulkner's identity,...