Category Archives: right of publicity

Trademark scholars roundtable: the consumer in different contexts

Posted on June 30, 2015 by rtushnet

Session 3:  The Consumer in Different Trade Mark Contexts Do the questions that we have looked at in the first two sessions vary in different trademark and adjacent contexts? Is assessment of the reaction of the average consumer in trade … Continue reading →

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Student athletes lose another right of publicity claim

Posted on June 11, 2015 by rtushnet

Marshall v. ESPN Inc., No. 14-01945 (M.D. Tenn. Jun. 4, 2015)   Current and former student athletes who played NCAA football or basketball sued college conferences, networks, and licensors for violating their rights of publicity and foreclosing them from the … Continue reading →

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The dangers of only arguing one half of 43(a)

Posted on April 29, 2015 by rtushnet

Diodato v. Wells Fargo Ins. Servs., USA, Inc., 44 F. Supp. 3d 541 (M.D. Pa. 2014) Darrell Diodato was employed by Wells Fargo Insurance for thirty-six years as an insurance producer, servicing existing insurance business and originating new insurance business. … Continue reading →

Posted in defamation, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, procedure, right of publicity | Leave a comment

8th Circuit dismisses right of publicity claim as copyright preempted

Posted on April 23, 2015 by rtushnet

Ray v. ESPN, Inc., No. 14-2117 (8th Cir. Apr. 22, 2015)   Steve “Wild Thing” Ray wrestled professionally in the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) from 1990 to 1994. ESPN obtained films of his wrestling matches and re-telecast them without his … Continue reading →

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Campbell conference: IP and cultural expression

Posted on April 18, 2015 by rtushnet

Panel VI. IP and Cultural Expression (Moderators, Professor Said and Professor Margaret Chon)   Mark McKenna, Notre Dame: Influence of Campbell outside copyright/in right of publicity: the First Amendment cases in which there’s an arguably expressive use of someone’s identity—movie, … Continue reading →

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Amicus brief in Dryer v. NFL

Posted on March 19, 2015 by rtushnet

Mark McKenna and I drafted a law professors’ amicus in Dryer v. NFL, a right of publicity case now on appeal in the 8th Circuit. We argued for a strong First Amendment standard for non-advertising speech as well as for … Continue reading →

Posted in first amendment, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, my writings, preemption, right of publicity, trademark | Leave a comment

"I’m not a regular Republican, I’m a cool Republican"

Posted on March 19, 2015 by rtushnet

House GOP attempts to explain its immigration policy in .gif form.  There’s probably an interesting gender analysis to be done here about the use of reaction .gifs of women making extremely expressive faces but not saying much.  HT Phil Schrag. Bonus … Continue reading →

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It’s possible to violate the right of publicity intentionally but innocently

Posted on March 16, 2015 by rtushnet

Jordan v. Jewel Food Stores, Inc., No. 10-c-340 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 12, 2015)   Jewel took out a page in a commemorative issue of Sports Illustrated congratulating Michael Jordan on his 2009 induction into the Hall of Fame.  Time asked … Continue reading →

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Copyright preemption bars athletes’ right of publicity claims against photo sales

Posted on March 10, 2015 by rtushnet

Maloney v. T3Media, Inc., No. 14-cv-05048 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 6, 2015)   Plaintiffs, members of the Catholic University basketball team from 1997 until 2001, sued T3, which provides cloud-based storage, hosting and licensing services for digital content uploaded by third-parties. … Continue reading →

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None but Bob Marley’s heirs can free our minds

Posted on March 9, 2015 by rtushnet

Fifty-Six Hope Road Music, Ltd. v. A.V.E.L.A., Inc., — F.3d —-, 2015 WL 728031, No. 12–17502 (9th Cir. Feb. 20, 2015)   Despite being a plaintiff victory, there’s a fair amount in here that might hearten opponents of a generalized … Continue reading →

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