Guide Through the Legal Jungle

Duplicating and Selling Celebrity Images

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

Leslie is an amazing sketch artist and avid Tom Cruise fan. She specializes in charcoal drawings, and recently drew an impressively realistic image of Tom Cruise’s face. The sketch is so precise that some even mistook it for a black and white photograph! To show what a fan she is, she copied the image of Tom Cruise onto a t-shirt for herself. She got many compliments on her t-shirt—so many that she decided to make t-shirts in bulk with the sketch printed on it. She sold over 1,000 t-shirts! Does Tom Cruise have a claim against Leslie?

1. No, Leslie is an artist and has a right to profit from her art.


2. No, Tom Cruise is a celebrity, and people have a First Amendment right to comment on celebrities through art and profit from their labor.


3. Yes, Leslie used Tom Cruise’s likeness for her personal profit without his permission.

Investigating Genericide

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

Generic terms do not qualify for trademark protection. Sometimes distinctive terms become generic and lose their trademark status (“genericide”). Which of the following were once distinctive, and have experienced genericide?  Choose all that apply.

1. Cellophane
2. Escalator
3. Band-Aid
4. Kleenex
5. Chapstick
6. Aspirin

Raspberry Recipe Rip-Off

 

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

Next week, I’ll begin a blog series on recipes and copyrights. The series will include my commentary on rights issues in two culinary-related books, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food a cookbook written by Jessica Seinfield, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and Julie & Julia in which a New Yorker chronicles her project of  cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

This recipe-related Saturday trivia question is a kick-off for the series. Colleen Mulcrone, a law school student who worked with me as a summer 2007 research assistant, contributed an initial draft of this question.

Frankey has created her own special raspberry pie. She writes down the recipe, signs it, and distributes copies of the recipe at the Bonaroo Music Festival. A couple months later, she sees her recipe, printed almost word-for-word, in a newly published cookbook, Munchies for Music Fans. Does Frankey have a copyright infringement claim against the writers of the cookbook?

1. Absolutely Yes.
2. No. Recipes are not copyrightable. Frankey’s recipe is a procedure, and procedures are not copyrightable.
3. Maybe. If Frankey's recipe contains expressive elements that were duplicated in the Munchies for Music Fans. cookbook,she may have an infringement claim.
4. It depends on how distinctive the ingredients in Frankey’s recipe are when compared to other raspberry pie recipes.

Fewer Squeaky Clean Films

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

Many parents want to watch movies at home with their children – but without the profanity, nudity, and other potentially objectionable material. Imagine a Basic Instinct in which Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone just hold hands. A July 2006 federal court ruling shut down the companies that distribute sanitized versions of popular movies finding those companies guilty of copyright infringement. Unaffected by the ruling are companies that offer software that bleeps out profanity and obscures nudity while the original dvd plays on a computer or specialized dvd player.  Do you know which one of the following four answers explains why these software-based filtering companies are still in business?

1. Federal law specifically protects the software-based filtering business model.
2. The software-based filtering companies have entered licensing agreements with Hollywood studios.
3. Most of the software-based companies are foreign-based so a US court decision does not affect them.
4. The software-based filtering companies work on movies that are in the public domain.

March Madness

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

Which one of the following sports organizations first coined the phrase March Madness to describe an athletic tournament?

A. Illinois High School Association
B. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
C. Olympics
D. National Basketball Association (NBA)

A Bumpy Ride for XM Satellite

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

 XM Satellite Radio is one of the two satellite radio services in the United States. Satellite radio is pay-for-service radio with stations accessible nationwide. Think of it as the radio equivalent of cable television. During its relatively short corporate history, XM Satellite Radio has confronted a variety of business and legal challenges. Which one of the following problems has XM Satellite Radio NOT experienced? 

1. The music industry sued XM for copyright infringement in connection with XM portable devices, the Inno and Helix, that allow listeners to download songs as they hear them on XM Radio. 

2. The Federal Communications Commission initiated an investigation of XM in connection with FM transmitters found in XM-compliant devices. 

3. XM-program providers included ads in their programming even though XM’s entire marketing campaign emphasizes the absence of ads.

4. The FCC fined XM $100,000 for indecency in connection with the Howard Stern Show.

Kaching!

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

Successful songwriters generate hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars by licensing their songs for various uses. Several organizations assist songwriters by issuing licenses to and collecting the corresponding revenue from those who want to use the songwriters’ material. Which one of the following organizations does NOT assist songwriters in collecting song revenue. 

1. ASCAP
2. BMI
3. Harry Fox
4. SOCAN
5. SoundExchange