Muhammad Ali lawsuit against Fox for Super Bowl LI promo
Muhammad Ali’s representatives have filed a $30 million lawsuit on behalf of Muhammad Ali Enterprises (MAE) against Fox Broadcasting Company. The suit centers around a three minute promotional ad for Super Bowl LI which ran before the Super Bowl in 2017. The spot includes various other personalities, past and present, in addition to Ali who is the focal point.
Here is a link to the complaint:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4105801-Ali-Fox.html
Two articles on the business of Right of Publicity
Two informative articles have issued in the last week, on the heels of the 2017 Licensing Show. Both are informative and include input from industry leaders.
Forbes: Forbes Business of Deceased Icons
and Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/592fa717e4b00afe556b0b27
Delebrities
Highest Paid Deceased Celebrities for 2016
Forbes has just released the annual “Top-Earning Dead Celebrities” for 2016. The most notable aspects of this year’s list are the new entries of recently departed personalities, and the amount of the number one earner. Here is a link to Forbes’ coverage: http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2016/10/12/the-highest-paid-dead-celebrities-of-2016/#5a1f53dd8d2e
Arnold Palmer (#3), Prince (#5) and David Bowie (#11) are the unfortunate new members on the list due to their recent respective deaths in 2016. In Palmer’s case, he had already created a vast business empire so the revenue sources that put him on this particular list were already in place. For Prince, who perhaps is the most surprising entrant on this list due to the especially shocking news of his death, the earnings are due to the surge in music sales that often follow the death of a notable artist. The same could be said of Bowie, but Bowie’s numbers also benefited from the release of a new album that closely coincided with his passing.
The other notable surprise in this year’s list is the amount assigned to the number one entrant, Michael Jackson, at $825 Million. Compare that figure to the number two spot, Charles Schulz, at $48 Million. It is worth noting that Jackson, since his death, has almost always taken the top spot, and while never quite at the $825 Million mark, the drop off from first place to second has often been very steep.
ESPN article on licensing of iconic coaches, contrasting Vince Lombardi to Joe Paterno
Here’s a great article about how famous, iconic figures are represented, citing the work Luminary Group has done for the family of Vince Lombardi. Instead of elaborating or commenting here, I’ll just give you a link to the article so you can read for yourself: http://espn.go.com/blog/sportsbusiness/post/_/id/158/paterno-legacy-likely-trails-coaching-icons