Opinion ID: 781994
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cognizability of a First Amendment Defense

Text: 136 Because a plaintiff bears a reduced burden of persuasion to succeed in a right of publicity action, courts and commentators have recognized that publicity rights carry a greater danger of impinging on First Amendment rights than do rights associated with false advertising claims. See Rogers, 875 F.2d at 1004; see also Cardtoons, 95 F.3d at 967 (noting that publicity rights offer substantially broader protection than laws preventing false endorsement); cf. Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, The Right of Publicity v. The First Amendment: A Property and Liability Rule Analysis, 70 Ind. L.J. 47 (1994). 137 We have recognized the importance of a First Amendment defense to right of publicity actions in a recent case. In Ruffin-Steinback v. dePasse, friends and family members of the Motown group, the Temptations, sued the makers of a televised mini-series for the manner in which they and the former group members were portrayed in the film. 82 F.Supp.2d 723, 726-27 (E.D.Mich.2000), aff'd, 267 F.3d 457 (6th Cir.2001). The plaintiffs alleged that their likenesses were appropriated to endorse a product, the film, without their permission. Id. at 728. The court found in that case that the plaintiffs could not overcome the defendant's First Amendment defense, even where the portrayal of the plaintiffs was partly fictionalized, and even where the likenesses of the plaintiffs were used to promote a videocassette version of the mini-series. Id. at 730-31; see also Seale, 949 F.Supp. at 337 (holding that the film Panther, which used the name and likeness of Black Panther founder Bobby Seale, was protected by the First Amendment). 138 As with the Lanham Act, then, we must conduct another balancing of interests — Parks' property right in her own name versus the freedom of artistic expression. See ETW Corp. v. Jireh Publ'g, Inc., 99 F.Supp.2d 829, 834-36 (N.D.Ohio 2000); Pooley v. Nat'l Hole-in-One Ass'n, 89 F.Supp.2d 1108, 1113-14 (D.Ariz.2000); dePasse, 82 F.Supp.2d at 731. 139