An overview of the law review article
The articles talk about the Right of publicity and intersection of copyright and trademark. The article highlights that personal right of privacy is based on following categories: protection against invasion into person’s private matters; protection of disclosure of person’s embarrassing facts; protection from false information from public and remedies for appropriation, i.e., a commercial advantage for person’s name. The three of the above categories protect one’s right to privacy while the last one is for the famous individuals who intend to defend their name and images. The article highlights the fourth category as property right than a privacy right. The rights of publicity are based on statutory law and in case law as well. There three elements the article emphasizes that are accepted as comprising the Right of Publicity, they include the use of famous person’s “name, image, and likeness (Greenber & Lovitz, 2012.” This right incorporates personality and appearance characteristics such as voice. The sportsmen are famous, and they should use this right to protect people and media from using their image and name without their consent. Modern sport is not a mere recreation, but it is becoming a big business opportunity for the sportsmen. Thus for the players to establish an efficient system to create the ownership of the services in the sports market, the Rights of Publicity and intellectual property protection will assist the players and sportsmen to create a commercial advantage for their image and name. The right to publicity differs from one state to another.
Major laws Discussed in Law Review
The law review article discusses the Right of Publicity and intersection with intellectual property protection rights that are effective in helping players to secure ownership rights of their “name, image and likeness.” The intellectual property law discussed includes trademark and copyright.
Patent Protection Law
Under the patent statute, the owner of the patented product, service or process is the only one with the right to sell and offer services of the invention until the end entire term of the patent expires. Thus the requirement for the invention to be patented must be new and non-obvious. Also, the inventor must give a detailed written description of the invention and the process to use in full context. Also, the patent statutory classified as matter-processes or machine or the composition of the matter. Thus for the product to be patented, it must follow at least one of the statutory classification. For instance, the sporting companies must obtain the patent right of the object used in sports. Therefore, teams will be able to patent their name and uniforms.
Copyright protection
Under the copyright law, the owner of the creative work controls his or her invention. The conditions for copyright protection includes the invention must be of the tangible form, original, creative and must fall within the subject matter of the copyright. Copyright federal requirement is satisfied by the presence of the sounds and images (Greenberg & Lovitz, 2012). To obtain copyright protection for the teams and sportsmen’s they have to show the reason why their services are unique.
Trademark
Trademark may be available for the sportspersons they must demonstrate the source of their specific services, hence; the move is in line with consumer goodwill. The trademark statute may include any word, name, symbol or device.
Reactions
The players should use Right to Publicity and IPs to establish an efficient system to create the ownership of the services in the sports market to create the demand. Thus under IPs statutes, players can acquire patents protection for their images and likeness, copyright rights for creative work.
References
Greenberg, M., & Lovitz, M. L. (2012). Right of Publicity and the Intersection of Copyright and Trademark Law.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Right+of+Publicity+and+the+Intersection+of+Copyright+and+Trademark+Law&btnG=
