Facts

Shirley Jones was best known as the mother in the 1970s show "The Partridge Family." She sued Corbis Corp., a distributor of copyrighted digital photographic images that it displays and offers for license on its websites in the form of an online catalog.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Jones sued on behalf of herself and a purported class of plaintiffs, and contended that Corbis' display of and license of the copyrights to photographs in images in which she appears violated her right of publicity under California law. She argued that the scope of her consent to being photographed and having her image distributed was limited to the efforts of the individual photographers and did not extend to Corbis' display of images to solicit sales of the images and to any subsequent license of the images.

Result

The court granted summary judgment for Corbis on Jones' individual claims, finding that she had consented to the distribution of the images of her at issue. Judge Stephen V. Wilson found that it was "undisputed that Jones voluntarily posed for photographers" with the knowledge that the photographers would display those images to prospective buyers, and that for over 40 years she did not object to this, knowing that the photographers would work with others to distribute the photographs. Having granted summary judgment, the court held that Jones' motion for class certification was moot, but also concluded that class certification would be inappropriate given lack of typicality. The Court subsequently awarded Corbis attorney fees and costs in excess of $350,000.