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Right of Publicity
Copyright Preemption
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division, decided that right of publicity and misappropriation claims by an individual hired to be a fictional character were preempted by federal copyright law. Stanford v. Caesars Entertainment Inc., 05-2298 Ml/V.
Plaintiff Crisper Stanford was hired to be the image and voice of 'Loose Slot Louie' for a campaign to promote the defendants' Tunica, MS, casino business. Stanford claimed that either the model release he signed was invalid for lack of proper consideration, or that the release applied only to 'audios, videos and photographs that preceded the execution of the release.' The district court reached its decision under the complete-preemption doctrine, adopted by the Sixth Circuit ' within which the Western District of Tennessee resides ' in Ritchie v. Williams, 395 F.3d 283 (6th Cir. 2005). The district court noted that under the doctrine, though a federal-preemption defense doesn't typically provide for removal of a state-filed case to federal court, if the 'pre-emptive force' of federal law is so 'extraordinary,' it can change 'an ordinary state common-law complaint into one stating a federal claim for purposes of the well-pleaded complaint rule.'
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