Thursday, August 24, 2000
Journalism society files amicus
brief on Woods' appeal
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Society of
Professional Journalists has asked the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
in Ohio to reject Tiger Woods' appeal in a right-of-publicity
lawsuit.
The Indianapolis-based organization says
Woods' appeal threatens First Amendment rights.
Woods sued Alabama artist Rick Rush after
he painted Woods at the Masters in April 1997 and then sold 250
limited-edition serigraphs and 5,000 smaller lithographs. Woods
claims the sale of the paintings violates his trademark and right
of publicity.
Rush has created similar paintings of Jack
Nicklaus, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson during public events.
Woods lost the first round of the lawsuit
in April when U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan in Cleveland
threw out the case. The lawsuit was filed in Cleveland because
Woods' company, ETW Corp., is based in the offices of his agent,
Cleveland-based International Management Group.
Gaughan ruled trademark or property rights
laws do not protect Woods' image and that the First Amendment
allows Rush not only to paint Woods' image but also to profit
from copies of the artwork.
The SPJ on Wednesday joined the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press in filing a friend-of-the-court
brief in the ongoing case. The brief, drafted by the Reporters
Committee, asks the federal appeals court to reject Woods appeal.
SPJ and other organizations believe that
if Woods' appeal is successful, it would increase the potential
for publicity rights laws to extend into the newsgathering process.
“Journalists, as well as others, should
be free to express ideas about celebrities without fear that they
could be sued merely because the celebrity did not like that particular
expression and deemed it unnewsworthy,” the Reporters Committee/SPJ
court brief states.
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