Just Because The Person You're Suing Has Mastered A California Accent, It Doesn't Make California The Proper Jurisdiction

from the talk-about-a-longshot dept

We had mentioned earlier this year how NBA player Chris Bosh had sued the producers of the reality TV show Basketball Wives for having an ex-girlfriend of his on the show. He claimed that it was a violation of his trademark, publicity rights and life rights. Oh yeah, he also complained that since the woman was never his "wife" there's a problem with the name of the show. Beyond just suing the producers of the show, he also sued the woman for appearing on the show, and she countersued him in part because she was soon kicked off the show. Either way Bosh and the producers settled, but the lawsuit against the woman continued... but has now been tossed over jurisdictional issues. You see, neither Bosh nor the woman, Allison Mathis, are in California, where the lawsuit was filed. Amazingly, Bosh tried (and failed) to get around this by saying that, well, she "has mastered a California accent." The court, pretty clearly, did not find that a compelling explanation for why the case belonged in California.

Filed Under: basketball wives, chris bosh, jurisdiction, publicity rights

Chris Bosh Claims Basketball Wives TV Show Infringes On His 'Life Rights'

from the publicity-rights-gone-mad dept

It can certainly be embarrassing if an "ex" has not so nice things to say about you. That's even more true if you're famous, and the ex is publicly dishing the dirt on your relationship -- perhaps in a tell-all book or a TV show. But is that illegal? That appears to be the claim of NBA player Chris Bosh. scarr points us to the news that Bosh is suing the producers of VH1's Basketball Wives for violating his trademark, publicity rights and "life rights," because his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child is on the show.

You can see the full filing below, and it's one of those kitchen sink filings, where Bosh and his lawyers toss in all sorts of random complaints, even if there are no legal issues there. For example, it complains that the show is called Basketball Wives, but the women are often ex-wives or merely girlfriends. It also complains that Bosh's ex-girlfriend is trying to promote her own brand. Both of these claims should be answered with a big: "So what?"

Bosh tries to get around the obvious First Amendment defense of his ex- by claiming that her participation and speech on the show is primarily commercial, rather than communicative:

"The use of Plaintiff's name by Defendants is primarily commercial and not communicative. Further, the show, 'Basketball Wives,' is not transformative, but rather the use, depiction, or imitation of celebrity NBA basketball players, including Plaintiff, is the very sum and substance of the show."

Basically, it's clear that Bosh doesn't like his ex- being on the show, and clearly isn't happy about what's being said about him. But none of that means he has a legal right to stop it.

Beyond the standard "publicity rights" claims that are so popular these days due to bizarre and dangerous state laws, it seems that Bosh is going even further in claiming that this is also a violation of his "life rights," claiming that you need a celebrity's permission to portray them, which isn't actually true. This seems to be a misreading of California's publicity rights law.

To be honest, while this case will likely settle one way or the other, it actually seems like it could be a good case for establishing some case law that you don't need a celebrity's permission to talk or write about them, and you're not violating their "publicity rights," "life rights," or trademark by appearing in a show based on your connection to them.

Filed Under: basketball wives, chris bosh, life rights, publicity rights, trademark