{"id":35065,"date":"2023-09-10T04:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T04:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=35065"},"modified":"2023-09-14T02:04:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T02:04:09","slug":"michael-oher-mike-tyson-and-the-question-of-whether-you-own-your-life-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/michael-oher-mike-tyson-and-the-question-of-whether-you-own-your-life-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Oher, Mike Tyson and the question of whether you own your life\u00a0story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jorge L. Contreras<\/a>, University of Utah<\/a><\/em> and Dave Fagundes<\/a>, University of Houston Law Center<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if you overcame a serious illness to go on to win an Olympic medal? Could a writer or filmmaker decide to tell your inspiring story without consulting you? Or do you \u201cown\u201d that story and control how it gets retold?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Oher, the former NFL player portrayed in the 2009 blockbuster \u201cThe Blind Side<\/a>,\u201d has sued Michael and Anne Leigh Tuohy, the suburban couple who took him into their home as a disadvantaged youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his official complaint, Oher claims that through forgery, trickery or sheer incompetence, the Tuohys enabled 20th Century Fox to acquire the exclusive rights to his life story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tuohys, Oher continues, received millions of dollars for a \u201cstory that would not have existed without him,\u201d while he claims that he received nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a year earlier, former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was similarly incensed<\/a> when he learned that Hulu had created a miniseries dramatizing his career<\/a> without seeking his permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey stole my life story and didn\u2019t pay me,\u201d Tyson charged in an Instagram post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oher and Tyson \u2013 not to mention countless influencers and wannabe celebs \u2013 share the conviction that they own, and can monetize, their life stories. And given regular news stories about studios buying<\/a> \u201clife story rights,\u201d it\u2019s not surprising to see why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As law professors, we\u2019ve studied this issue; our research shows<\/a> that there is no recognized property right under U.S. law \u2013 or the laws of any other country of which we are aware \u2013 to the facts and events that occur during someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why are Oher, Tyson and others complaining? And why do publishers and studios routinely pay large sums to acquire rights that don\u2019t exist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No monopoly on the truth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In most states, the commercial use of an individual\u2019s name, image and likeness is protected by the so-called \u201cright of publicity<\/a>.\u201d But that right generally applies to merchandise, apparel and product endorsements, not facts and actual events. So you can\u2019t sell a T-shirt with Mike Tyson\u2019s face on it without his permission, but writing a book about his rise to fame is fair game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., the freedom to describe historical events is rooted in the free speech clause<\/a> of the First Amendment, and it\u2019s a fundamental principle that no one \u2013 whether it\u2019s a news agency, political party or celebrity \u2013 holds a monopoly on the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law doesn\u2019t sanction the invasion of privacy<\/a>, so an investigative journalist who uncovers some unsavory detail of your past can\u2019t publish it unless there is a legitimate public interest in doing so. Nor does it condone the dissemination of false information, which can lead to defamation lawsuits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Amendment, however, does allow authors and film producers to truthfully depict factual events that they have legitimately learned about. They are not required to receive authorization from or pay the people involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin of life story \u2018rights\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Film producers, however, are accustomed to paying for the right to repackage or use existing content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright licenses are required to commission a script based on a book, to depict a comic book character in a film and to include a hit song on a movie soundtrack. Even showing an architecturally distinctive building often requires the consent of a copyright owner, which is why the video game \u201cSpider-Man: Miles Morales\u201d had to remove the Chrysler Building<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Manhattan
Studios hoping to include a shot of the Chrysler Building in their films might have to pony up. Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Along with these other rights and permissions, Hollywood studios have paid individuals for their life stories for at least a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, unlike copyright clearances, life story deals do not involve the acquisition of known intellectual property rights. Life story \u201crights\u201d are not rights at all. Instead, they bundle together a set of contractual commitments: the subject\u2019s agreement to cooperate with the studio, not to work on a similar project, and to release the studio from claims of defamation and invasion of privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By packaging these commitments under the umbrella of \u201clife story rights,\u201d studios can signal to the market that they have acquired a particularly juicy story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Netflix\u2019s quick deal with convicted fraudster Anna Sorokin<\/a>, the subject of the popular streaming series \u201cInventing Anna<\/a>,\u201d seems to have deterred competing adaptations<\/a> of Sorokin\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, the acquisition of life story rights has become so common that it is viewed, in many cases, as a de facto requirement for film financing and insurance coverage and thus part of the standard clearance procedure for many projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exceptions don\u2019t make the rule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As always with the law, though, there are exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the producers of the 2010 film \u201cThe Social Network\u201d did not obtain the permission<\/a> of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg before dramatizing the origin story of his company. In moving forward with the project, they risked a defamation or publicity suit by Zuckerberg and others depicted in the film. But their gamble paid off: Zuckerberg, while critical of his depiction<\/a>, didn\u2019t sue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, other subjects who have been depicted in dramatic features without their authorization have sued to recover a share of the profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver screen legend Olivia de Havilland, for example, sued FX Studios<\/a> for briefly depicting her in a miniseries about Hollywood rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. She won at trial, though an appeals court reversed her victory, citing the producers\u2019 First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawsuits can even be brought when the characters\u2019 names and story details have been changed. U.S. Army Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver, the bomb-defusing expert who inspired the Oscar-winning film \u201cThe Hurt Locker<\/a>,\u201d sued the film\u2019s producers<\/a> for violating his right of publicity. He lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawsuits like these are not the norm. But many producers hope to get ahead of a flimsy lawsuit and bad publicity by acquiring nonexistent rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History is in the public domain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, there is nothing wrong \u2013 and much that is right \u2013 with paying individuals to cooperate with the production of features about themselves. Doing so can convey respect toward the subject and make the production go more smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fact that life story acquisitions have entered the popular consciousness has spurred the widespread belief that any portrayal of a factual series of events entitles those depicted to a lucrative payday. This expectation increases production costs and the risk of litigation, thereby deterring otherwise worthwhile projects and depriving the public of meaningful content that is based on true stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could be done about this situation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One idea that we\u2019ve written about<\/a> would prevent right of publicity laws \u2013 the basis for many life story lawsuits \u2013 from being used against works that convey ideas and tell a story, such as books, films and TV shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most important thing that can be done, though, is educating people that they don\u2019t have a right to cash in on every description of the events of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collective history, in our view, belongs in the public domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge L. Contreras<\/a>, James T. Jensen Endowed Professor for Transactional Law and Director, Program on Intellectual Property and Technology Law, University of Utah<\/a><\/em> and Dave Fagundes<\/a>, Baker Botts LLP Professor of Law and Research Dean, University of Houston Law Center<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jorge L. Contreras, University of Utah and Dave Fagundes, University of Houston Law Center What if you overcame a serious illness to go on to win an Olympic medal? Could a writer or filmmaker decide to tell your inspiring story without consulting you? Or do you \u201cown\u201d that story and control how it gets retold? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":35066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8025,6],"tags":[4221,10691,9613,14623,14624,2254,303,1614,1409,1793,412,840,4903,2225,305,9528,525,14625,1715,6955,3131],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35065"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35079,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35065\/revisions\/35079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}