Jordanna Thigpen

In the largest right of publicity award in U.S. history, Thigpen won a $9.6 million verdict for the heirs of Hubert Hansen, the deceased founder of Hansen’s beverages, after a San Diego jury decided Monster Energy and Coca-Cola wrongfully used his name in marketing their products.

Claims under the right of publicity, which protect against misappropriation of a person’s name, likeness, or personal identity are rarely taken to trial, Thigpen said. Part of pleading her case to jurors, involved educating them about this area of intellectual property law, she said.

“The right of publicity is really the right to preserve the autonomy of the self, and to prevent it from being misappropriated, misused or marketed without one’s permission,” Thigpen said. “To help the jury understand the significance of that right, was an honor.”

The jury sided with Hansen’s heirs who alleged the 2015 sale of Hansen’s drink to Coca-Cola and Monster Beverage, did not include copyrights and trademarks to Hansen’s name and story for the roll out of the product “Hubert’s Lemonade.” Hubert Hansen Intellectual Property Trust v. The Coca-Cola Company et al., 37-2016-00021046 (San Diego County Sup. Ct, filed June 6, 2016).

Thigpen was with Johnson & Johnson LLP at the time but is now building her own firm, Thigpen Legal PC, in which she handles intellectual property and business litigation, along with disputes related to the entertainment industry, real estate, and labor and employment.

Thigpen said she is shifting her focus to civil rights and employment matters, working of counsel for the Law Offices of Mayor Joseph L. Alioto in San Francisco.

“It’s a natural fit for me, a natural segue at this level of my practice, to start working with civil rights cases and discrimination cases,” Thigpen said. “To vindicate the rights of people who are being unfairly treated, for me, is really the core of what it means to be a plaintiff’s attorney. I cannot abide bullies, so if I can spend the rest of my life fighting bullies and defeating them, then this is a life well spent.”

— Blaise Scemama