CELEBRITY LICENSING
Celebrity Licensing and Litigation
The Times They Are A-Changin’
By Jonathan Faber, Luminary Group Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door whiskey and Hennessy’s Never Settle campaign featuring Major Taylor (the first African American to win a world championship in cycling) spotlight intriguing growth areas in celebrity licensing. Meanwhile, social media influencers and sponsored posts have unlocked new vistas, while licensed cannabis lines of Willie Nelson, Bob Marley and Snoop Dog, and Kathy Ireland’s licensed CBD oil further demonstrate how The Times They Are A-Changin’ indeed. With change and new vistas come the undertow of unauthorized uses. For example, several lawsuits have been filed against Epic Games by Backpack Kid, 2 Milly, and Alfonso Ribeiro of Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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over dances avatars perform in the popular game, Fortnite. The song says It’s Not Unusual, but is it? What’s going on? The load-bearing beam in all of the aforementioned examples is the Right of Publicity, which ensures a degree of control over commercial use of one’s identity. Even those who do not participate directly in celebrity licensing may be closer to these issues than it seems. The right is not just for celebrities, and any business with a website, social media, advertising, or even just customers or employees, let alone product or advertising focused on personalities, might intersect with the Right of Publicity in one way or another.
Alfonso Ribeiro’s claim is based on the Carlton dance his character performed on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The dance in the game is called Fresh which seems to be an additional connection to Ribeiro. The lawsuit states that the dance can be purchased to customize a user’s avatar. I am asked frequently about this situation. A key issue will center on identifiability. Is Ribeiro identifiable from the Fresh dance, all things considered? The Moonwalk likely is identifiable with Michael Jackson. If a person is identifiable from a commercial use, it likely needs a license, but generic elements that are merely evocative might not. Does an ad with a blond 1950s-era starlet equate to Marilyn Monroe? Does an Instagram post featuring a
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING