Ansel Adams or Not? The Story of a Trademark Dispute

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve written. Yes, when I extol the virtues of a blog, I always say write often. I’ll save the excuses. (OK, fine; twist my arm: in a nutshell, I became despondent when I took a friend’s offer to jazz up my site and saw my ranking plummet, plummet! From showing up on the first page of a search result to something like the 1,000,000th page! Sheesh!)

In any event, here I am. Surprise!

So where was I? Yes, new case that I just love. God knows why, just one of those cases. It’s styled The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust v. PRS Media Partners, LLC, et. al. (ND CA, Case No. CV 103740 EDL – link should be here, but it isn’t, so stop looking). The complaint runs like 180 pages if you print it (thanks Latham & Watkins; helping out the environment, are we?), asserts ten causes of action: four under the Lanham Act, the same four – drafted as 5 — under California law, and a claim for violation of publicity under Cal Civ. Code Section 3344.1. Over kill? No, I like it.

So the facts of this one are what I really love. Ten years ago, a resident of Fresno, CA (ouch!) claims to have purchased at a garage sale what he insists are the long lost negatives of pix shot by famed photographer Ansel Adams. Cool. If it’s true. Rick Norsigian says he paid $45 for the box of negs, and is now seeking to sell prints of these “long lost” photos for what could ultimately amount to millions (up to $200 million, according to a July 27, 2010 press conference convened by Norsigian’s team). Gotta admire that.

Well, my friends, the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust does not admire this. No one bit. Not one little bit. Not even a little bit. They claim that none of the 65 negatives that Norsigian claims will make him a mint – uh, I mean are AA originals – are indeed Mr. Adams’ early work. The Trust claims that the photos belong to a photographer of lesser talent, or at least lesser financial worth. In any event, according to them, Mr. Adams (“an American icon,” “America’s best-known photographer,” recipient of “the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor,”) did not take them. According to the Trust “Plaintiff believes the evidence will ultimately show that Ansel Adams was not the photographer who created the negatives Norsigian claims to have purchased at the garage sale.” At least they hope so! $200 million times!

Covering their basis, the Trust goes on to say, well, ahem, “even if Mr. Adams created the negatives, the prints and posters Defendants are selling are, at most, derivative works – made without authority, direction, control, or permission of the Ansel Adams Trust.” To this end, the Trust asserts that the defendants’ use of Mr. Adams’ name and likeness and the Ansel Adams trade mark “are likely to cause confusion, mistake, and/or deception as to the source, origin, endorsement and approval of Defendants’ products. This is really where the rubber hits the road, or photographic image hits the plate, in this case. That is, if the works weren’t done by the master, fair enough, game over, no $200 mil (except maybe for the lawyers). But if they were, then it would seem that Norsigian and company have a pretty good defense based on fair use, at least as to the TM claims.

The fair use defense is available to one who, in good faith, fairly uses a descriptive term that has acquired a secondary meaning and is now protected by trademark, in a descriptive sense rather than its trademark sense. See e.g. Sunmark, Inc. v. Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., 64 F.3d 1055 (7th Cir., 1995); United States She Corp. v. Broucn Group Inc., 740 F. Supp. 196 (S.D.N.Y.), aff’d 923 F.2d 844 (2d Cir. 1990); Cairns v. Franklin Mint Co., 292 F.3d 1139, 1150 (9th Cir. 2002) (“classic fair use” concerns the defendant’s use of the plaintiff’s mark to describe the defendant’s own product); Playboy v. Welles, 279 F.3d 796 (9th Cir. 2002) (House-of-Hef sued its former top bunny, Terri Welles, for using the words “Playboy” and “Playmate of the Year” in her website’s metatags; Welles won, arguing that these terms were necessary to describe her as “Playboy Playmate of the Year 1981.”)

For this defense to work for Norsigian et Co, they’ll have to establish three elements. First, that the Ansel Adams name is used in its descriptive sense; second that it used the mark in good faith; and third that it has not used the mark as a trademark. See Car-Freshner Corp. v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. 70 F.3d 267 (2d Cir. 1995); Packman v. Chicago Tribune, Co., 267 F.3d 628, 641 (newspaper’s use of “ The joy of six” as headline to describe the happiness associated with basketball team’s sixth championship held to be descriptive use); EMI Catalogue Partnership v. Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc., 228 F.3d 56, 66 (2d Cir. 2000); TCPIP Holding, Co., Inc. v. Haar Communications, Inc., 244 F.3d 88, 104 (2d Cir. 2001) (use of term as name of portal website precluded finding of fair use).

Courts have also found that nominative fair use exists where the defendant used the plaintiff’s mark simply to describe the plaintiff’s own product. Cairns, supra, 292 F.3d at 1150; Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Church, 411 F.2d 350, 352 (9th Cir., 1969) (defendant permitted to advertise that he repaired Volkswagen vehicles as long as he indicated his independent nature and did not use logo or script of plaintiff); Wells, supra, 279 f. 3d 796 (defendant’s title “Playmate of the Year 1981” could be used to identify herself on her website and to index the content of his website, but stylized use of “PMOY ’81” abbreviation held not a nominative use because it was not necessary to describe defendant).

Based on this, and assuming arguendo the photos are legitimately the work of Ansel Adams, it would seem to me that Norsigian has a right to use the Ansel Adams mark to describe the product he’s shilling. See Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. v. Gentile Productions, 134 F.3d 749, 756 (6th Cir. 1998) (use of the words “Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame – Cleveland” underneath photo of museum on poster may constitute fair use of Museum’s registered mark). I mean, how else are they going to describe the work? “They’re by that guy, the one with the beard, the broad brimmed hat, who used to take photos of Yosemite. You know who I mean? Think the first letter of the alphabet . . . times two!” I don’t think so. If they were taken by Adams, I think the trademark and unfair competition claims fail. Nice try.

As to the name and likeness claim, I like that one a bit more. California Civil Code section 3344.1 provides for recovery of damages for the unauthorized use of a “deceased personality’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products, merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods, or services, without prior consent. . . .” It appears for the advertising or promotional material that plaintiffs attached to the complaint in this matter that the defendants did indeed use Ansel Adam’s photo in promoting what they claim are his photographs. Notably, this statute allows for a recovery of “the greater of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) or the actual damages suffered . . and any profits for the unauthorized use.” It also allows for a recovery of attorneys fees, which may drive this claim in a big, bad way. That is, I doubt plaintiff can establish that Norsigian’s reprints of the negatives at issue sold because the defendants’ used Ansel Adams’ mug on their promo material. That brings the damage number for this claim down to $750, plus attorneys fees. Did I mention that Latham is handling this matter?

So by my score keeping, the game goes like this: if works are proved to be legit, the plaintiff loses on everything but name and likeness, and then gets only a fraction of its legal fees for that portion. Big win for defendants. If the works are shown not to be those of Ansel Adams, it’s a big win for plaintiff, a big, big loss for the defendant. In any event, it should be fun to see if these really are Ansel Adams’ works (frankly, I’m betting against it, but then I thought Star Wars was going to bomb when I first saw the trailer), and to see whether the fair use defense comes to defendants’ rescue if the works are legit.

Jonathan Pink is an intellectual property attorney at Bryan Cave, LLP. He can be reached at jonathan.pink@bryancave.com.