Law Commons^™

The Air Jordan Rules: Image Advertising Adds New Dimension To Right Of Publicity–First Amendment Tension, Stephen Mckelvey, Jonathan Goins, Frederick Krauss

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Every year, corporations spend on average nearly thirty-five billion dollars on sports-related marketing, ranging from stadium naming rights and promotional sponsorships, to commercials and endorsement deals. In mining through some of the potential legal traps, corporate advertisers understand that utilizing the name, image, or likeness of athletes or celebrities in marketing and promotional campaigns requires some form of consent and compensation. Corporations hire lawyers for “advertising clearance”: to ensure that slogans, logos, and images are available for use, and that video and music in audio-visual recordings are otherwise licensed. The concept of getting permission or authorization is relatively straight-forward. However, …