A look into Copyright issues in Sports

Anyone here seen the Heisman Trophy? Did you know there is a picture of legendary wide receiver Desmond Howard who played for the Michigan Wolverines doing the iconic pose? Did you know the man who took the picture is now suing the pants off a long list of companies for copyright infringement?

If you stopped me in the streets and asked me if this picture was copyrighted, I’d have to say yes. Well up until a few years ago I would have been wrong. The man, who shot it Brian Musack, finally copyrighted the picture, which is over 20 years old. Since then he has gone after Sports Illustrated for using the copyrighted material in their magazine without his permission, and Desmond Howard himself for selling signed copies of the picture without his permission.

Why did he not copyright the picture sooner? Bad legal counsel told him the fact that it was published in a major magazine with his name on the photo credit was enough to give him a copyright. Apparently that is not true.

In 2011, Musack was asked by Howard to sell him the rights to the picture, but as stated on PetaPix in an article, Musack asked for over 200 grand and Howard never bought the rights. Since then Howard has sold copies of the picture from his website.

Musack has a case if he were suing from the time of the copyright until now. Musack is asking apparently for backpay for issues of Sports Illustrated from years ago. Another company involved with this ad was Nissan and they are also being sued. He’s asking for money from Getty Images from years back.

This case with Musack reminds me of a case a professor back in undergrad told us about. A 3M employee created PostItNotes to use at his own desk while working for 3M. They were just for his personal use; he wasn’t bringing it to the company as a product. One of the big wigs saw the PostItNotes and loved the idea. 3M began to manufacture them. The creator sued 3M for stealing his idea and giving him no compensation for it. Interesting thing about this case was the man never filed for a patent. In the end the Supreme Court made a ruled in 3M’s favor. Not because the man didn’t file a patent, rather because the man created the PostItNotes on company time with company material. While the two cases are far from similar, for some reason they remind me of each other.

I don’t see how the court can award him anything for the time passed. I would understand the court awarding him money since the copyright but not before it. I feel bad for Musack because he got bad legal advice, but he’s suing for something he shouldn’t get. I would assume the statutes of limitations have run out.