On Christmas Eve, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals resubmitted Sarver v. Chartier for consideration.  I posted earlier about this long-lingering right of publicity lawsuit arising out of the Academy-Award winning film The Hurt Locker.  If the Supreme Court grants certiorari in Davis v. Electronic Arts—a case being discussed in conference later this week—look for Sarver to be held up once again.  If the Supreme Court denies review of Davis then we can all look forward to the contortionist analysis that will follow as the panel struggles to differentiate the alleged use of a person’s identity in a fact-based motion picture (that primarily revolves around that person) from the use of many largely undifferentiated athletes in a realistic sports video game.

Order Resubmitting Sarver (Dec. 24, 2015)