The truth is out there, but it might violate the right of publicity

Scott v. Citizen Watch Co., No. 17-cv-00436-NC, 2018 WL 1626773 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 4, 2018)This case would be the poster child for the need for a true reckoning between modern right of publicity law and the modern First Amendment, but the poster would probably violate plaintiff David Randolph Scott’s rights under the reasoning of this case.  The court found factual disputes about the applicability of various exceptions to California’s right of publicity and the Lanham Act, including a reading of nominative fair use that makes it a dead letter/a defense only when confusion is unlikely (cf. KP Permanent). The only things that got kicked out were Scott’s emotional distress claims.Scott is a retired astronaut and the mission commander for NASA’s 1971 Apollo 15 voyage, on which Scott spent three days on the moon, including over 18 hours outside the main spacecraft. Before the mission, Bulova representatives gave Scott two Bulova timepieces to use in space.…

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