By Richard J. Leighton When is speech "commercial" and what is an "advertisement"? A recent federal decision addresses these fundamental questions in an eyebrow-raising fashion. * BACKGROUND Plaintiff is basketball legend... Read More
When somebody talks you up, what's the best way to thank them? Offer them a bouquet of flowers? Send them a card? Take them to court? The third option - a warm "thank you" via complaint - isn't as unlikely as you might suspect.... Read More
UPDATE: On July 13 th , ex-Green Bay Packer, Darrell Thompson, filed a similar class action lawsuit in the District of Minnesota. View or download the complaint filed in Thompson v. NFL, 11-01900 (D. Minn. 07-13-11) . Sports Illustrated called... Read More
Gasper, an adult movie actor, was the president and sole shareholder of Jules Jordan Video (JJV), the creator of the videos in which Gasper appeared. Gasper and JJV filed a copyright action against defendants, alleging that they had copied and sold... Read More
An Indiana federal court has ruled that the Indiana right of publicity statute, which has the longest post-mortem period of continuing the right of publicity, does not apply to personalities who died before 1994, the year the statute was enacted... Read More
The use of someone without permission in entertainment can trigger a lawsuit for "commercial appropriation of likeness." And so it was recently when "Jimmy Kimmel Live" created a video mocking a 2010 "business meeting" between... Read More
BSH Home Appliances Corporation, the manufacturer of high-end home appliances, last week sued for a declaratory judgment of trademark/copyright non-infringement regarding its use of Julia Child's images. BSH has used Child's images and has... Read More
Community Member Andrew Beckerman-Rodau , Professor of Law & Co-Director IP Concentration a the Suffolk University Law School, contributed the following podcast to the community. Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, Professor, Suffolk University Law School... Read More
Twitter Turns Acidic to Trademark/Right of Publicity Claims Twitter, in the legal world, might prove to be the equivalent of sulphuric acid. In NBA-Player Gilbert Arenas' recent lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend (Laura Govan) and Shed Media's... Read More
By Kathryn Hines and Christine Steiner Society is consumed with celebrity. We can survey Hollywood marriages and divorces, analyze Golden Globe wardrobe choices and comment upon the latest Lindsey Lohan foible. It is not surprising that many artists... Read More
Boxing great, Floyd Mayweather, has sued The Wine Bistro New Orleans, a bar, restaurant and nightclub, accusing the bar of unfair competition, violating his right of publicity and trademark infringement. The Wine Bistro is accused of posting print... Read More
In rejecting a right of publicity claim by Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which claims to control the rights to Albert Einstein, a California federal court has ruled that the common law right of publicity under New Jersey law has a maximum post-mortem... Read More