I bet you didn’t know that the original “Rocky” movie was inspired by journeyman boxer Chuck Wepner’s 1975 fifteen-round loss to Muhammed Ali in 1975. Which doesn’t bode well for Wepner’s lawsuit: he seems to think he’s entitled to a $15 million cut for that movie and its four sequels for misuse of publicity rights. (A look at Wepner’s web site seems to indicate the ex-con benefits more from publicity from Stallone than Stallone has from publicity from Wepner. I didn’t see any references to Mr. T, however.) One looks in vain for an acknowledgement by the press coverage that the lawsuit has less of a chance than Wepner did against Ali–though readers of Professor Volokh’s weblog know better:

No, it’s not legally actionable for a writer to use your name in honestly describing the inspiration for his work. Even if Stallone is intentionally trying to “capitalize” on this story (not terribly likely, I think, but say it’s so), he’s perfectly entitled to do so, just as biographers or journalists are perfectly to “capitalize” on others’ names and stories when writing their works. Wepner wouldn’t be entitled to get damages from someone who wrote a biography of him (unless the biography was libelous, which isn’t an issue here). He’s likewise not entitled to get damages from someone who was inspired by him in making a movie, and who reveals this inspiration in discussing the movie.

(Dave Anderson, “Bayonne Bleeder Throws a Punch at the Italian Stallion”, New York Times, Nov. 16; Steve Springer, “The Eye of the Lawsuit”, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13; AP, Nov. 13; Eugene Volokh blog, Nov. 10).

Filed under: libel slander and defamation, movies film and videos, sports