Law Commons^™

The Court And The Cannonball: An Inside Look, Stephen Wermiel, Lee Levine

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

As lawsuits over the right of publicity proliferate among athletes and other celebrities, there is renewed interest, by litigants and judges alike, in the one decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that addresses a tort action arising from a "publicity" related claim, Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. Although the 1977 ruling is often cited as holding that the right of publicity tort survives constitutional scrutiny under the First Amendment, an examination of the case and of the Supreme Court justices' available papers shows that the Court did not view the case as presenting the type of claim that has become …