Who Gives Who the Finger?
Okay, copyright fans, time to unpack our lamest finger cliches. Earlier this month down in San Antonio federal court, #1 Fan Company and Spirit Industries commenced the ultimate case of finger-pointing in their copyright infringement complaint in #1 Fan Company et al. v Pangea Direct. The creation at the center of the lawsuit is that over-sized foam hand with upraised forefinger familiar to sports fans everywhere.
The issue, at least as framed in the complaint, is whether Pangea
's version of the foam hand (shown to the right) infringes the plaintiff's prior version (shown to the left).Ah, but keep your fingers crossed.The more intriguing issue is lurking just behind those fingers, and it will likely turn into a copyright dispute that is, well, finger-lickin' good.
One of my favorite clients has just won a courtroom battle with ramifications far beyond the trading cards at issue in the lawsuit. Indeed, its victory is literally historical, since the case addresses the issue of who owns great moments in history: the participants or the public?
Pete Salsich III is an occasionally accomplished illustrator and relatively weak guitar player whose secret identity is that of an
Geoff Gerber keeps waiting for his superpowers to materialize. In the meantime, he uses his lawyer-powers to litigate intellectual property
Michael A. Kahn concentrates his practice in copyright, trademark, First Amendment and media law (libel, privacy rights). He is