Steve Ray v. ESPN, Inc.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that \Ray's likenesses could not be detached from the copyrighted performances that were contained in the films\
• noting that “ESPN did not use Ray’s likeness or name in an advertisement without his permission to [imply Ray’s endorsement of] its commercial products” and concluding on that basis that the subject matter of the claim is the copyrighted film depicting Ray’s likeness
• finding right of publicity claim brought by wrestler against ESPN for re-telecasting copyrighted wrestling performances preempted because the performances were rebroadcasts of copyrighted film, not the use of his likeness or name to promote commercial products
• affirming dismissal of state claims preempted by the Copyright Act
• affirming dismissal of state claims preempted by the Copyright Act
• finding claims for tortious interference and publicity preempted

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).