Tag: Texas

Texas Appellate Court Strikes Down State’s Revenge Porn Law

This week a Texas Court of Appeals in Ex Parte Jones struck down the state’s law making it a criminal offense to “disclose intimate visual material” without the permission of the person depicted when that person expected the image to remain “private.”  Texas Penal Code § 21.16 (b) The appellate court held that the law...
Continue reading

Celebrity Chef Sues to Cancel Contract Transferring His Right of Publicity

Celebrity chef Kent Rathbun has sued to invalidate an assignment of his rights to the use of his name and likeness. Rathbun, a former contestant on Iron Chef America and a four-time James Beard-Award nominated chef from Dallas, objects to an onerous contract he signed with H2R Restaurant Holdings and several other Texas businesses, including...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading