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At least he didn't violate the DMCA

By Rebecca Tushnet

Allen v. American Apparel involves a billboard, marked ?American Apparel? and featuring a still of Woody Allen dressed as an Orthodox rabbi. Defendant?s summary judgment brief, via Marty Schwimmer, is a bold attempt to have Allen?s false endorsement suit dismissed on First Amendment grounds. Apparently, while watching Annie Hall, Dov Charney was struck by the similarities between his story and Allen?s. ?In a moment of artistic inspiration, Mr. Charney ? began the process of taking digital photographs of certain scenes from the movie. Using the controls on his television recording system, he searched for and paused the Annie Hall movie on precisely the scene that had inspired him?the scene in which the Alvy Singer character at that table tilts his glasses upward. He then manipulated the digital photographs using a computer program, adjusting the color, the clarity and other artistic aspects of the photographs, all in furtherance of his artistic vision.?

Bonus question: if California law applied, would the inverse of the White v. Samsung rule be that if nobody recognizes Allen, no violation of the right of publicity occurs?

Full post as published by 43(B)log on May 14, 2009 (boomark / email).