Cameo Clips

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decided that a right-of-publicity plaintiff's damages under Florida law should be based on the defendant's usage, rather than sales, data. Ji v. Bose Corp., 09-2341. Model Ting Ji sued in Florida federal court over use, on Bose home-entertainment-system packaging and promotion, of a photo in which she appeared. After Bose had the case transferred to the District of Massachusetts, where the company is based, the district court dismissed Ji's false endorsement claim under the Lanham Act. Following a trial, the jury found Bose violated Ji's right of publicity and privacy rights, but awarded her $10,000, rather then the $2 million she sought.

Florida Statutes '540.08(2) states that a prevailing right-of-publicity plaintiff may “recover damages for any loss of injury sustained by reason thereof, including an amount which would have been a reasonable royalty, and punitive or exemplary damages.” On Ji's appeal, the First Circuit observed that the Florida statute “does not define a reasonable royalty, or suggest what data is necessary to calculate what one might be in any particular set of facts. No opinion of the Florida Supreme Court, or of Florida's lower appellate courts, does either.”