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Ninth Circuit Upholds WA State Publicity Rights Amendment
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of Washington's publicity rights law in a trademark dispute over the rights to singer and guitarist Jimi Hendrix's name and likeness. Experience Hendrix LLC v. Hendrixlicensing.com Ltd., 11-35858.
Experience Hendrix LLC, the Seattle company owned by Hendrix's family members, claimed in a 2009 suit that Hendrixlicensing.com LLC and its owner, Andrew Pitsicalis, were licensing merchandise in violation of its trademarks. Pitsicalis asked for a declaratory judgment that Experience Hendrix could not bring claims under Washington's Personality Rights Act, Wash. Rev. Code ”63.60.010-63.60.080. Although it hadn't sued under the act, Experience Hendrix had done so unsuccessfully in the past ' but the law was amended to grant post-mortem publicity rights regardless of where a person lived or died. Hendrix died in New York in 1970.
Judge Thomas Zilly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington found in February 2011 that the amended Washington statute violated the due process and full faith and credit clauses of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the dormant commerce clause. The Ninth Circuit reversed that ruling.
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