Athlete’s Right of Publicity Outweighs First Amendment Protections for EA Video Game, Court Holds

Hart v. Electronic Arts, Inc.
By Samantha Rothberg – Edited by Alex Shank

The Third Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey’s grant of summary judgment to Electronic Arts (“EA”) in a right of publicity action, on the grounds that EA’s appropriation of Ryan Hart’s likeness in a video game was protected by the First Amendment. The case was remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with the Third Circuit’s adoption of the “transformative use” test.

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Third Circuit Subjects Reverse Payments to Strict Antitrust Scrutiny By Jie Zhang – Edited by Charlie Stiernberg In Re: K-Dur Antitrust Litigation, No. 10-2077 (3d Cir. July 16, 2012) Slip opinion The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the summary judgment of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, which had rejected an antitrust challenge to a reverse payment agreement between the K-Dur patent holder Schering-Plough Corporation (“Schering”) and the generic drug manufacturer Upsher-Smith Laboratories (“Upsher”) ... Read More...

Third Circuit Affirms Prior Decision to Strike Down FCC Fine for CBS Broadcast of Janet Jackson’s Breast During Super Bowl Halftime Show By Abby Lauer – Edited by Albert Wang CBS Corp. v. FCC, No. 06-3575 (3d Cir. Nov. 2, 2011) Slip Opinion The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its earlier decision throwing out a $550,000 fine that the Federal Communications Commission imposed on broadcasting corporation CBS for airing a split-second image of Janet Jackson’s exposed breast during the ... Read More...

Third Circuit holds that vulgar MySpace profile created off school grounds did not cause “substantial disruption” at the school to justify student’s ten-day suspension By Michael Adelman – Edited by Abby Lauer J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, No. 08-4138 (3d Cir. June 13, 2011) Slip Opinion The Third Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed and remanded the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s ruling that suspension was an appropriate punishment for a student who created a fake MySpace account that made fun ... Read More...

By Sonia McNeil Myriad Genetics Appeals Ruling on Patentability of Isolated Genes Myriad Genetics has appealed the Southern District of New York’s ruling in Association for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO. The district court invalidated seven Myriad Genetics patents relating to the human Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes 1 and 2 (collectively, “BRCA1/2”), finding that the claimed isolated DNA is not markedly different from native DNA as it exists in nature and therefore constituted unpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.  ... Read More...