An Update On Athlete Publicity Rights In Sports Broadcasts
Law360, New York (July 27, 2015, 2:11 PM EDT) -- In April, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals forced former professional wrestler Steve "Wild Thing" Ray to tap out in his battle against ESPN Inc. by dismissing the wrestler's right of publicity suit for failure to state a claim.[1] Ray originally sued ESPN in late 2013 for rebroadcasting old wrestling matches in which Ray participated, without his permission, claiming that such unauthorized rebroadcasting infringed his state-law right of publicity. The recordings in question had been perpetually licensed by the Universal Wrestling Foundation to ESPN.[2] After ESPN removed the suit to federal court in December 2013,[3] the district court for the Western District of Missouri held that the Copyright Act preempted Ray's right of publicity claim, which the Eighth Circuit subsequently affirmed....
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