Bit Parts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld an injunction barring Christopher Selletti from pursuing state court litigation over his allegation that Mariah Carey falsely claimed authorship of the lyrics of the composition “Hero.” Selletti v. Carey, 02-7899. The Second Circuit had previously upheld the dismissal of Selletti's federal copyright claim with prejudice. Calling the case “vexatiously protracted litigation,” the appeals court noted in its most recent ruling, “The claims that Selletti raises in his state court petition have been litigated and 'actually decided' in federal court.” This included an allegation that Carey's lawyers had acted improperly in the federal proceeding. The district court and appeals courts had found that allegation “without foundation.”

“Perfect Storm” Issue Certified

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has certified to the Florida Supreme Court the question of whether the depiction of boat crew members in the film “The Perfect Storm” violated Fla. Stat. Sec. 540.08 as a commercial misappropriation. Tyne v. Time Warner Entertainment Co. L.P., 02-13281. (The district court had ruled that “commercial purpose” in Fla. Stat. '540.08 wasn't meant to extend liability to the use of an individual's name or likeness in an expressive medium like film.) But the appeals court decided that the portrayal of the boat captain as an obsessed fisherman didn't trigger the relational right of privacy of the captain's children because the portrayal wasn't “sufficiently egregious.”

Cease-and-Desist Letters Appropriate