Pryor Cashman Wins Trademark and Unfair Competition Case Involving Hit Movie “50/50”
Pryor Cashman has won a trademark and unfair competition case brought under the federal Lanham Act against Summit Entertainment, Lions Gate Entertainment and Mandate Pictures in connection with the critically-acclaimed motion picture 50/50. The case, Eastland Music Group et al v. Lions Gate Entertainment et al, was pending in Chicago in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Plaintiffs Eastland Music Group, LLC, an “entertainment business,” and Raynarldo Whitty, its manager, claimed to have statutory and common law trademark rights in “Phifty-50” and “50-50” and alleged that the use of “50/50” for the film’s title infringed those rights under federal and Illinois state law. Pryor Cashman moved to dismiss those claims, arguing that the film and its title were artistic expression protected by the First Amendment, relying on the landmark case of Rogers v. Grimaldi, which had rejected Ginger Rogers’ claims against the Federico Fellini film Ginger & Fred.
On July 19, 2012, U.S. District Judge George W. Lindberg granted Pryor Cashman’s motion to dismiss Eastland Music’s federal trademark and unfair competition claims. The Court applied the two-pronged Rogers test, holding that the title “50/50” had artistic relevance to the content of the film – which concerns a young man who has a 50/50 chance of surviving a rare form of spinal cancer – and that the title was not explicitly misleading as to the source or content of the film. The Court dismissed Raynarldo Whitty’s claims for lack of standing to assert them. Having dismissed the plaintiffs’ federal claims, the Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the parallel state law claims.
Partner Tom J. Ferber, who had also successfully represented the defendants in the Rogers case, and associate Ross Bagley, both members of Pryor Cashman’s Litigation, Intellectual Property and Entertainment and Media Groups, successfully represented the defendants.
To read a copy of the decision, please click here.
To read about the case in Law 360, please click here.
To read about the case in The Hollywood Reporter, please click here.
