News & Analysis as of

Name and Likeness Lanham Act

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Digital Replicas and the First Amendment: The Latest in Artificial Intelligence Legislation

Image-generating technology is accelerating quickly, making it much more likely that you will be seeing "digital replicas" (sometimes referred to as "deepfakes") of celebrities and non-celebrities alike across film,...more

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints

Supreme Court Doesn’t Want to Play the Name Game: Prohibition Against Using a Person’s Name in a Registered Mark Without Consent...

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering trademarks utilizing another person's name without consent was constitutional. In Vidal v. Elster 602 U. S. ____ (2024), the Supreme...more

Vondran Legal

Artificial Intelligence Law - Intellectual Property Protection for your voice?

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With the advent of AI technology capable of replicating a person's voice and utilizing it for commercial purposes, several key legal issues are likely to emerge under California's right of publicity law. The right of...more

Baker Donelson

New Legislation Proposed in Tennessee to Protect Against Deepfakes: ELVIS Act

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Recent advances in technology and artificial intelligence have the power to completely disrupt the world of advertising, media, music, sports, and entertainment by manipulating digital content to create synthetic photos and...more

Venable LLP

Artificial Intelligence Wants Your Name, Image and Likeness - Especially If You're a Celebrity

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Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) have made it easier than ever to replicate a person's name, image, and likeness (NIL), particularly if that person is a celebrity. AI algorithms require massive amounts of "training...more

Miller Nash LLP

“Wavy Baby” Case Tests Definition of an Expressive Work

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Is the Wavy Baby a sneaker or a comment on “sneaker culture”? A commercial product or a collectible artwork? This is the most recent variation on a question that has had growing urgency in trademark law over the past decade:...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Rights of Privacy and Publicity TOO SMALL to Overcome First Amendment Freedom of Speech

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During the 2016 presidential primaries, then presidential candidates Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio exchanged insults, with Trump calling Rubio “Little Marco” and Rubio commenting on the size of Trumps hands. Recently,...more

Smith Gambrell Russell

Models Obtain Default Judgment Against Club for Use of Their Photographs

Smith Gambrell Russell on

Jessica Hinton, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. Completely Innocent LLC, Defendant - United States District Court for the District of Arizona No. CV-21-01019-PHX-SPL - Opinion issued January 7, 2022 - Arizona Right of...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Judge Rejects Greek Freak’s Shot for Damages

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We previously wrote about a series of trademark lawsuits filed by NBA MVP and now NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo over the use of his nickname “Greek Freak”. Those lawsuits all contained similar allegations: that the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Agreement to One Is Not Consent to All

McDermott Will & Emery on

Addressing a myriad of issues involving unauthorized use of professional models’ photographs for gentlemen’s clubs’ promotional materials, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the district court erred in...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Bobby Brown’s Claims for the Use of His Name and Likeness Not His Prerogative

In a detailed order that strongly affirmed the First Amendment rights of documentarians, on Aug. 2, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a lawsuit brought by Bobby Brown—the bad boy of...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Models’ False Ad Suit Against Strip Clubs Moves Forward

A Connecticut federal court refused to dismiss Lanham Act false advertising claims filed by a group of models against two strip clubs that used their images without permission....more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Forever 21 and Ariana Grande “Face-Off” Over Lookalike Images

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Ariana Grande, identified in a recent complaint filed in federal court as an “internationally renowned singer, songwriter and actress,” is challenging struggling retailer Forever 21’s use of images that allegedly mimic Ms....more

Kilpatrick

Grand Implications: The Use of Celebrity Look-Alikes in Advertising and the Interplay Between State Right of Publicity and Federal...

Kilpatrick on

What is a world-wide, massively popular pop music star and actor supposed to do when a company negotiates with her to secure her image in an endorsement deal, declines to pay her asking price, but then goes ahead, without...more

Sunstein LLP

May 2019 IP Update: IP Considerations For Distinctive Moves and Other Content in Video Games

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Several entertainers, including Brooklyn rapper 2 Milly, Alfonso Ribeiro, and Instagram’s “Backpack Kid” and “Orange Shirt Kid”, sued Epic Games, Inc., the owner of the popular game Fortnite. What do all of these individuals...more

Burns & Levinson LLP

What’s In a Name?

Burns & Levinson LLP on

Question: What do Sean Combs, J.K. Rowling, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, and Mark Wahlberg have in common? Two things, actually. First, they are all listed on the Forbes 2017 Celebrity 100 List; second, they all have gone to...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Advertising Law - August 2017

U.K. to Ban Gender Stereotypes in Ads - Gender stereotypes in advertising will be banned as a result of new guidelines that will be promulgated by the main advertising regulators in the United Kingdom and go into effect in...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Intellectual Property Law - July 2017

SCOTUS: For Patent Venue, Domestic Corporations ‘Reside’ Where Incorporated - Why it matters: On May 22, 2017, the Supreme Court issued its decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC—rejecting...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Advertising Litigation Report: Vol. 2, No. 2 - Lanham Act False Advertising

Summary Judgment Affirmed for Defendant in Lanham Act Challenge to Statements Concerning Popularity of Advertiser’s Product, Scarcity of Challenger’s Product: Verisign, Inc. v. XYZ.COM LLC, 848 F.3d 292 (4th Cir. 2017)...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

#ShowMeTheMoney: Sofia Vergara’s Settlement of Social Media False Endorsement Lawsuit Highlights Modern Legal Issue

Last month, Sofia Vergara, star of ABC’s Modern Family, reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the actress against beauty company Venus Concept for alleged improper use of her likeness on television and in social media,...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Three Point Shot - April 2017

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Premier League Takes the Pitch in Fight against Pirated Streams - The United Kingdom's most popular soccer league is using skillful legal tackling to maintain possession of its intellectual property. The Football...more

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group

Baring It All: Judge Orders Swingers’ Club to Produce Email Distribution List

A recent case in the Southern District of Florida serves as a reminder that even trade secrets may be subject to production to opposing counsel. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman recently ordered a defendant “swingers’” club...more

Baker Donelson

Just Play the Game: Sixth Circuit Says Student-Athletes Have No Right of Publicity in Game Broadcasts

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In a short, sharp opinion filed August 17, 2016, a three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a class action lawsuit brought by ten former college athletes asserting they were entitled to...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &...

Celebrity Trademark Watch: Who Owns Marilyn Monroe’s Image? – Right of Publicity vs. Trademark Rights

In her posthumously published autobiography, My Story, screen legend Marilyn Monroe wrote: “I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful but because I had never belonged to...more

BakerHostetler

Garçon to FanDuel: Check please!

BakerHostetler on

What are a veteran NFL player’s name, image, and likeness worth in the burgeoning (but recently beleaguered-by-lawsuits) daily fantasy sports gaming industry? NFL wide receiver Pierre Garçon’s putative class action lawsuit...more

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