Re: Advertising violations

On Tue, Mar 09, 1999, Corinne Nyquist <nyquistc[_at_]matrix.newpaltz.edu> wrote:
>
> I am a college librarian who has just been asked if an ad in the campus
> newspaper is a violation of copyright. The ad uses the pictures of the
> three stooges and then says to vote the local stooges i.e. politicians
> out of office. The politicians are fair game, but the ad was paid for
> by a local bar owner who has many violations and so does not like the
> local government enforcement of occupancy and under age drinking. Does
> someone own the rights to the three stooges images and how can this be
> found out?

The copyright in the photograph is owned either by the original photographer or by whomever he assigned it to.

It may be owned by a movie studio, if it's a frame blowup from a movie. The publicity rights of the Three Stooges (a different legal right from copyright) are owned, controlled, and aggressively enforced by Comedy III Productions, Inc., which has won several lawsuits over the unlicensed use of the Stooges' images on merchandise.

If the ad infringes either copyright or rights of publicity, the paper and the school could be liable along with the advertiser. I would strongly recommend getting good legal advice.

Bob Cumbow
cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com
206-583-8566 Received on Thu Mar 11 1999 - 19:38:46 GMT