Copyrights provide protection to various original works and give the copyright owner the exclusive right to sell, publish, or reproduce the work. Photographer Jacobus Rentmeester felt that this exclusive right had been violated by Nike.

The photo at the heart of the lawsuit was one Renmeester took of Michael Jordan for a Life magazine feature on the Summer Olympics of 1984. The photo is of Michael Jordan midair going toward a basketball hoop in a grassy knoll. Renmeester alleged that Nike used this photo to create its “Jumpman” logo.

Copyrights provide protection for “original works of authorship” which are fixed in a tangible form. Tangible form includes a story written down on paper or a song recorded on a tape. Categories of work that can be copyrighted include (but are not limited to): musical works, literary works, movies, and sound recordings. While it would seem that Rentmeester’s photograph falls into the definition of copyrightable work, the Ninth Circuit panel concluded that even though Nike may have copied the photo, a person “cannot copyright the pose itself and thereby prevent others from photographing a person in the same pose.”

Related Resources:

  • Nike defeats appeal over iconic Michael Jordan photo, Jumpman logo (Reuters)
  • Copyrights (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
  • ESPN Sued for Copyright Infirngement Over Chucky Mullins Doc (FindLaw’s Tarnished Twenty)
  • Can a Lawsuit Stop Super Bowl Counterfeit Tickets? (FindLaw’s Tarnished Twenty)
  • 2017: The Year in Sports Law (FindLaw’s Tarnished Twenty)

You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help

Civil Rights

Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court

Criminal

Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records

Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules