Comedy III Productions, Inc. v. Gary Saderup
Published: Jan. 31, 1998 | Result Date: Dec. 9, 1997 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: EC020205 Verdict – $225,000
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Burbank
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Caroline H. Mankey
(Akerman LLP)
Defendant
Edward C. Wilde
(Michael S Overing APC)
Experts
Plaintiff
William H. Keller
(technical)
John Costello
(technical)
Facts
Defendants Gary Saderup and Gary Saderup, Inc., sold t-shirts and posters of celebrity images in malls under the name Charcoals By Saderup. In this case, defendants admittedly sold at least 2,269 t-shirts and 1,415 posters bearing the image of the The Three Stooges. The image on the t-shirts and posters was mass produced by silk screen onto Hanes Beefy-T t-shirts and lithographed onto the posters from an original charcoal sketch drawn by defendant Gary Saderup. Plaintiff, Comedy III Productions, Inc. is the exclusive owner and licensor of names and likenesses of The Three Stooges. Plaintiff claimed defendants did not obtain a license for the use of the likenesses.
Settlement Discussions
At a settlement conference held over one month prior to trial, plaintiff offered to accept $40,000 in full settlement and no attorney fees or costs, offered to give defendants a confidentiality agreement, and in lieu of an injunction, offered to accept defendants' agreement to stop selling Three Stooges merchandise. One month before trial, plaintiff made a C.C.P. º998 offer to stipulate to entry of a permanent injunction against defendants and to accept $80,000. Neither offer was accepted by defendants.
Damages
Plaintiff claimed defendants misappropriated the intellectual property rights in the likenesses of The Three Stooges and sought a permanent injunction and profits realized by defendants from the unauthorized use on mass produced t-shirts and posters, plus attorney fees in the amount of at least $200,000.
Result
The defendants agreed to submit the matter to the court for decision on stipulated facts and to waive a jury. In ruling on the case, the court rejected defendants' affirmative defense that Civil Code º990, prohibiting the unlicensed use of celebrity likenesses for merchandising was unconstitutional. The court also rejected the defense that there was a priviledge under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which allowed the sale of mass produced merchandise bearing celebrities' likenesses taken from an original painting by an artist. The trial court had previously rejected the same defenses in denying defendants' motion for summary judgment. The court ruled that defendants were engaged in a purely commercial enterprise and were misappropriating plaintiff's statutory rights of publicity. Defendants also unsuccessfully asserted these same alleged constitutional defenses in writ petitions to both the Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court.
Length
½ day
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