TACHA, Circuit Judge.
Cardtoons, L.C., ("Cardtoons") brought this action to obtain a declaratory judgment that its parody trading cards featuring active major league baseball players do not infringe on the publicity rights of members of the Major [**2] League Baseball Players Association ("MLBPA"). The district court held that the trading cards constitute expression protected by the First Amendment and therefore read a parody exception into Oklahoma's statutory right of publicity. MLBPA appeals, arguing that (1) the district court lacked jurisdiction to issue a declaratory judgment and (2) Cardtoons does not have a First Amendment right to market its trading cards. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. @ 1291. Because Cardtoons' First Amendment right to free expression outweighs MLBPA's proprietary right of publicity, we affirm.
Cardtoons formed in late 1992 to produce parody trading cards featuring caricatures of major league baseball players. Cardtoons contracted with a political cartoonist, a sports artist, and a sports author and journalist, who designed a set of 130 cards. The majority of the cards, 71, have caricatures of active major league baseball players on the front and humorous commentary about their careers on the back. The balance of the set is comprised of 20 "Big Bang Bucks" cards (cartoon drawings of currency with caricatures of the most highly paid players on the front, yearly [**3] salary statistics on the back), 10 "Spectra" cards (caricatures of active players on the front, nothing on the back), 10 retired player cards (caricatures of retired players on the front, humorous commentary about their careers on the back), 11 "Politics in Baseball" cards (cartoons featuring caricatures of political and sports figures on the front, humorous text on the back), 7 standing cards (caricatures of team logos on the front, humorous text on the back), and 1 checklist card. Except for the Spectra cards, the back of each card bears the Cardtoons logo and the following statement: "Cardtoons baseball is a parody and is NOT licensed by Major League Baseball Properties or Major League Baseball Players Association."
A person reasonably familiar with baseball can readily identify the players lampooned on the parody trading cards. The cards use similar names, recognizable caricatures, distinctive team colors, and commentary about individual players. For example, the card parodying San Francisco Giants' outfielder Barry Bonds calls him "Treasury Bonds," and features a recognizable caricature of Bonds, complete with earring, tipping a bat boy for a 24 carat gold "Fort Knoxville Slugger." [**4] The back of the card has a team logo (the "Gents"), and the following text:
At the end of the 1992 season, Barry Bonds was a two-time winner of the National League's Most Valuable Player award, a three-time winner of a Gold Glove award, and had just signed a six-year contract for $ 43.75 million, making him the highest-paid player in baseball. Richard Hoffer, The Importance of Being Barry: The Giants' Barry Bonds is the Best Player in the Game Today--Just Ask Him, Sports Illustrated, May 24, 1993, at 13. No one the least bit familiar with the game of baseball would mistake Cardtoons' "Treasury Bonds" for anyone other [**5] than the Giants' Barry Bonds. Other caricatures, such as "Ken Spiffy, Jr." of the "Mari-Nerds" (Ken Griffey, Jr., of the Seattle Mariners), are equally identifiable.
The trading cards ridicule the players using a variety of themes. A number of the cards, including the "Treasury Bonds" card and all of the Big Bang Bucks cards, humorously criticize players for their substantial salaries. (The irony of MLBPA's counterclaim for profits from the cards is not lost on this panel.) Other trading cards mock the players' narcissism, as exemplified by the card featuring "Egotisticky Henderson" of the "Pathetics," parodying Ricky Henderson, then of the Oakland Athletics. The card features a caricature of Henderson raising his finger in a "number one" sign while patting himself on the back, with the following text:
The remainder of the cards poke fun at things such as the players' names ("Chili Dog Davis" who "plays the game with relish," a parody of designated hitter Chili Davis), physical characteristics ("Cloud Johnson," a parody of six-foot-ten-inch pitcher Randy Johnson), and onfield behavior (a backflipping "Ozzie Myth," a parody of shortstop Ozzie Smith).
The format of the parody trading cards is similar to that of traditional baseball cards. The cards, printed on cardboard stock measuring 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches, have images of players on the front and player information on the back. Like traditional cards, the parody cards use a variety of special effects, including foil embossing, stamping, spectra etching, and U-V coating. Cardtoons also takes advantage of a number of trading card industry techniques to enhance the value of its cards, such as limiting production, serially numbering cases of the cards, and randomly inserting subsets [**7] and "chase cards" (special trading cards) into the sets.
After designing its trading cards, Cardtoons contracted with a printer (Champs Marketing, Inc.) and distributor (TCM Associates) and implemented a marketing plan. As part of that plan, Cardtoons placed an advertisement in the May 14, 1993, issue of Sports Collectors Digest. That advertisement tipped off MLBPA, the defendant in this action, and prompted its attorney to write cease and desist letters to both Cardtoons and Champs.
MLBPA is the exclusive collective bargaining agent for all active major league baseball players, and operates a group licensing program in which it acts as the assignee of the individual publicity rights of all active players. Since 1966, MLBPA has entered into group licensing arrangements for a variety of products, such as candy bars, cookies, cereals, and, most importantly, baseball trading cards, which generate over seventy percent of its licensing revenue. MLBPA receives royalties from these sales and distributes the money to individual players.
After receiving the cease and desist letter from MLBPA, Champs
advised Cardtoons [*964] that it would not print the parody cards
until a court of competent jurisdiction [**8] had determined that
the cards did not violate MLBPA' rights. Cardtoons then filed
this suit seeking a declaratory judgment that its cards do not
violate the publicity or other property rights of MLBPA or its
members. Cardtoons also sought damages for tortious interference
with its contractual relationship with Champs, as well as an injunction
to prevent MLBPA from threatening legal action against Champs
or other third parties with whom Cardtoons had contracted concerning
the cards. MLBPA moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,
and counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment, injunction, and
damages for violation of its members' rights of publicity under
Oklahoma law.
The district court referred the case to a magistrate, who issued
his Report and Recommendation in favor of MLBPA. The magistrate
stated that the parody cards infringed on MLBPA's right of publicity
and that, under either a trademark balancing test or a copyright
fair use test, Cardtoons did not have a First Amendment right
to market its cards without a license from MLBPA. The district
court initially adopted the magistrate's Report and Recommendation,
Cardtoons, L.C. v. Major League Baseball Players [**9] Association,
838 F. Supp. 1501 (N.D. Okla. 1993), but subsequently vacated
that decision and issued Cardtoons, L.C. v. Major League Baseball
Players Association, 868 F. Supp. 1266 (N.D. Okla. 1994). In its
second opinion, the court wholly rejected application of a trademark
balancing test to the right of publicity, and instead applied
a copyright fair use analysis. Unlike the magistrate, however,
the court held that a fair use analysis requires recognition of
a parody exception to the Oklahoma publicity rights statute, and
issued a declaratory judgment in favor of Cardtoons. This appeal
followed.
[The court rules that this lawsuit does involve a potential federal question (under section 43(a)(1) of the Lanham Act) and does implicate a "case or controversry" and therefore that the district court had jurisdiction.] * * * *
Cardtoons asks for a declaration that it can distribute its parody trading cards without the consent of MLBPA. There are three steps to our analysis of this issue. First, we determine whether [**17] the cards infringe upon MLBPA's property rights as established by either the Lanham Act or Oklahoma's right of publicity statute. If so, we then ascertain whether the cards are protected by the First Amendment. Finally, if both parties have cognizable rights at stake, we proceed to a final determination of the relative importance of those rights in the context of this case.
A. MLBPA's Property Rights
1. The Lanham Act
We begin by determining whether the cards violate MLBPA's property rights under the Lanham Act. Section 43(a)(1) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. @ 1125(a)(1), creates a federal remedy for false representations or false designations of origin used in connection with the sale of a product. The statute provides civil liability for:
The hallmark of a Lanham Act suit is proof of the likelihood
of confusion, which occurs "when consumers make an incorrect
mental association between the involved commercial products or
their producers." San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc.
v. United States [*967] Olympic Comm., 483 U.S. 522, 564, 97 L.
Ed. 2d 427, 107 S. Ct. 2971 (1987) (Brennan, J., dissenting),
quoted with approval in Jordache Enters., Inc. v. Hogg Wyld, Ltd.,
828 F.2d 1482, 1484 (10th Cir. 1987).
Likelihood of confusion is a question of fact that we review for
clear error. Jordache, 828 F.2d at 1484. The district court found
that Cardtoons' parody cards created no likelihood of confusion.
We agree that no one would mistake MLBPA and its members as anything
other than the targets of the parody cards. Most of the cards
have a Cardtoons logo and a statement that they are not licensed
by MLBPA. In addition, as with all successful parodies, the effect
of the cards is to amuse rather than confuse. "A parody relies
upon a difference from the original mark, presumably [**19] a
humorous difference, in order to produce its desired effect."
Id. at 1486 (emphasis added). Cardtoons' success depends upon
the humorous association of its parody cards with traditional,
licensed baseball cards, not upon public confusion as to the source
of the cards. The district court's decision that the parody cards
do not create a likelihood of confusion is not clearly erroneous,
and thus the cards do not infringe upon MLBPA's property rights
under the Lanham Act.
2. The Right of Publicity
The right of publicity is the right of a person to control the commercial use of his or her identity. 1 J. Thomas McCarthy, The Rights of Publicity and Privacy @ 1.1[A][1] (1996); see Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition @ 46 (1995). While the right was originally intertwined with the right of privacy, courts soon came to recognize a distinction between the personal right to be left alone and the business right to control use of one's identity in commerce. McCarthy, supra, @@ 1.1-1.6; Michael Madow, Private Ownership of Public Image: Popular Culture and Publicity Rights, 81 Cal. L. Rev. 127, 167-78 (1993). The latter was first acknowledged as a [**20] distinct privilege and termed the "right of publicity" in Haelan Laboratories, Inc. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 202 F.2d 866 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 346 U.S. 816, 98 L. Ed. 343, 74 S. Ct. 26 (1953). Haelan Laboratories, appropriately enough, involved two rival chewing gum manufacturers who were arguing over exclusive rights to use the image of a professional baseball player to promote their product. In resolving the dispute, the court concluded that "a man has a right in the publicity value of his photograph." Id. at 868. The court explained:
Id. The development of this new intellectual property [**21] right was further cultivated by Melville Nimmer in his seminal article The Right of Publicity, 19 Law & Contemp. Probs. 203 (1954). Nimmer, who was counsel for Paramount Pictures at the time, Madow, supra, at 174 n.238, referred to "the needs of Broadway and Hollywood" in describing the foundations and parameters of the right, Nimmer, supra, at 203. The right of publicity is now recognized by common law or statute in twenty-five states. McCarthy, supra, @ 6.1[B].
Like trademark and copyright, the right of publicity involves a cognizable property interest. Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., 433 U.S. 562, 573, 53 L. Ed. 2d 965, 97 S. Ct. 2849 (1977); Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition @ 46 cmt. g. Most formulations of the right protect against the unauthorized use of certain features of a person's identity--such as name, likeness, or voice--for commercial purposes. See McCarthy, supra, @@ 4.9-4.15. Although publicity rights are related to laws preventing false endorsement, they offer substantially broader protection. Suppose, for example, that a company, Mitchell [*968] Fruit, wanted to use pop singer Madonna in an advertising campaign to sell bananas, but Madonna never [**22] ate its fruit and would not agree to endorse its products. If Mitchell Fruit posted a billboard featuring a picture of Madonna and the phrase, "Madonna may have ten platinum albums, but she's never had a Mitchell banana," Madonna would not have a claim for false endorsement. She would, however, have a publicity rights claim, because Mitchell Fruit misappropriated her name and likeness for commercial purposes. Publicity rights, then, are a form of property protection that allows people to profit from the full commercial value of their identities.
Oklahoma first recognized the right of publicity as early as 1965, but expanded the right in a 1985 statute that is virtually identical to California's right of publicity statute, Cal. Civ. Code @@ 990 and 3344. The heart of the Oklahoma statute provides that:
Okla. Stat. tit. 12, @ 1449(A). Thus, a civil suit for infringement
of MLBPA's publicity right under @ 1449(A) requires proof of three
elements: (1) knowing use of player names or likenesses (2) on
products, merchandise, or goods (3) without MLBPA's prior consent.
If MLBPA proves these three elements, then the burden shifts to
Cardtoons to raise a valid defense.
There is little question that Cardtoons knowingly uses the names
and likenesses of major league baseball players. This is evident
from an examination of the cards and the testimony of the president
of Cardtoons, who conceded that the cards borrow the likenesses
of active players. Indeed, the caricatures are only humorous because
they, along with the parodied name, team, and commentary, are
accurate enough to allow identification of the players being parodied.
The second and third elements of the statute are also satisfied.
The cards are clearly a product, designed to be widely marketed
and sold for profit. In addition, the parties have stipulated
that MLBPA has [**24] not consented to Cardtoons' use of player
likenesses. Cardtoons' parody cards, then, do infringe upon MLBPA's
publicity right as defined in @ 1449(A).
The Oklahoma publicity statute contains two exceptions designed to accommodate the First Amendment. The first, a "news" exception, exempts use of a person's identity in connection with any news, public affairs, or sports broadcast or account, or any political campaign, from the dictates of the statute. Okla. stat. tit. 12, @ 1449(D). The second exception, roughly analogous to the First Amendment concept of "incidental use," exempts use in a commercial medium that is not directly connected with commercial sponsorship or paid advertising. Okla. stat. tit. 12, @ 1449(F). The news and incidental use exceptions, however, provide no haven for Cardtoons. Cardtoons' commercial venture is not in connection with any news account. Moreover, the company's use of player likenesses is directly connected with a proposed commercial endeavor; indeed, the players were specifically selected for their wide market appeal. Thus, notwithstanding any First Amendment defense, Cardtoons' use of player likenesses on its cards violates the Oklahoma statute [**25] and infringes upon the property rights of MLBPA.
B. Cardtoons' First Amendment Right
Because the parody trading cards infringe upon MLBPA's property rights, we must consider whether Cardtoons has a countervailing First Amendment right to publish the cards. The First Amendment only protects speech from regulation by the government. Although this is a civil action between private parties, it involves application of a state statute that Cardtoons claims imposes restrictions on its right of free expression. Application of that statute thus satisfies the state action requirement of Cardtoons' First Amendment claim. See [*969] New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 265, 11 L. Ed. 2d 686, 84 S. Ct. 710 (1964).
Cardtoons' parody trading cards receive full protection under the First Amendment. The cards provide social commentary on public figures, major league baseball players, who are involved in a significant commercial enterprise, major league baseball. While not core political speech (the cards do not, for example, adopt a position on the Ken Griffey, Jr., for President campaign), this type of commentary on an important social institution constitutes protected expression.
The cards are no less protected [**26] because they provide humorous rather than serious commentary. Speech that entertains, like speech that informs, is protected by the First Amendment because "the line between the informing and the entertaining is too elusive for the protection of that basic right." Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507, 510, 92 L. Ed. 840, 68 S. Ct. 665 (1948); see Zacchini, 433 U.S. at 562, 578. Moreover, Cardtoons makes use of artistic and literary devices with distinguished traditions. Parody, for example, is a humorous form of social commentary that dates to Greek antiquity, and has since made regular appearances in English literature. See L.L Bean, Inc. v. Drake Publishers, Inc., 811 F.2d 26, 28 (1st Cir.), appeal dismissed and cert. denied, 483 U.S. 1013, 97 L. Ed. 2d 753, 107 S. Ct. 3254 (1987). In addition, cartoons and caricatures, such as those in the trading cards, have played a prominent role in public and political debate throughout our nation's history. See Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 53-55, 99 L. Ed. 2d 41, 108 S. Ct. 876 (1988). Thus, the trading cards' commentary on these public figures and the major commercial enterprise in which they work receives no less protection because the cards are amusing.
MLBPA contends that Cardtoons' speech receives less [**27] protection because it fails to use a traditional medium of expression. The protections afforded by the First Amendment, however, have never been limited to newspapers and books. The Supreme Court has relied on the First Amendment to strike down ordinances that ban the distribution of pamphlets, Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U.S. 444, 451-52, 82 L. Ed. 949, 58 S. Ct. 666 (1938), the circulation of handbills, Jamison v. Texas, 318 U.S. 413, 416, 87 L. Ed. 869, 63 S. Ct. 669 (1943), and the display of yard signs, City of Ladue v. Gilleo, 512 U.S. 43, 114 S. Ct. 2038, 2044-47, 129 L. Ed. 2d 36 (1994). Moreover, many untraditional forms of expression are also protected by the First Amendment. See, e.g., Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 105 L. Ed. 2d 342, 109 S. Ct. 2533 (1989) (flag burning); Schad v. Mount Ephraim, 452 U.S. 61, 68 L. Ed. 2d 671, 101 S. Ct. 2176 (1981) (nude dancing); Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15, 29 L. Ed. 2d 284, 91 S. Ct. 1780 (1971) (wearing a jacket bearing the words "Fuck the Draft"). Thus, even if the trading cards are not a traditional medium of expression, they nonetheless contain protected speech.
Moreover, even if less common mediums of expression were to receive less First Amendment protection (perhaps out of concern for whether they contain any expression at all), trading cards do not fall into that category. Baseball cards have [**28] been an important means of informing the public about baseball players for over a century. "Trading, collecting and learning about players are the most common reasons for children to purchase baseball cards. . . . They are, in other words, an education in baseball." Fleer Corp. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 501 F. Supp. 485, 495-96 (E.D. Pa. 1980), rev'd on other grounds, 658 F.2d 139 (3d Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1019, 72 L. Ed. 2d 137, 102 S. Ct. 1715 (1982). In addition, non-sports trading cards have also been an important medium for disseminating information. Some recent examples feature topics such as saints, Norman Rockwell paintings, presidential candidates, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, local police officers, and Rodney King. All of these trading cards, regardless of their topic, convey information about their subject and therefore constitute an important means of expression that deserves First Amendment protection.
MLBPA also maintains that the parody trading cards are commercial merchandise rather than protected speech. However, [*970] we see no principled distinction between speech and merchandise that informs our First Amendment analysis. The fact that expressive materials are sold [**29] neither renders the speech unprotected, Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 761, 48 L. Ed. 2d 346, 96 S. Ct. 1817 (1976), nor alters the level of protection under the First Amendment, Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co., 486 U.S. 750, 756 n.5, 100 L. Ed. 2d 771, 108 S. Ct. 2138 (1988). Cardtoons need not give away its trading cards in order to bring them within the ambit of the First Amendment. See Lakewood, 486 U.S. at 756 n.5.
MLBPA further argues that the parody cards are commercial speech and should therefore receive less protection under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has defined commercial speech as "expression related solely to the economic interests of the speaker and its audience." Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n, 447 U.S. 557, 561, 65 L. Ed. 2d 341, 100 S. Ct. 2343 (1980). Speech that does no more than propose a commercial transaction, for example, is commercial speech. See Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy, 425 U.S. at 762. Thus, commercial speech is best understood as speech that merely advertises a product or service for business purposes, see 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, 134 L. Ed. 2d 711, 116 S. Ct. 1495, 1504 (1996) (plurality opinion) (outlining a brief history of commercial [**30] speech that is, essentially, a history of advertising). As such, commercial speech may receive something less than the strict review afforded other types of speech. Id. at 1507.
Cardtoons' trading cards, however, are not commercial speech--they do not merely advertise another unrelated product. Although the cards are sold in the marketplace, they are not transformed into commercial speech merely because they are sold for profit. Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy, 425 U.S. at 761. Contrary to MLBPA's argument, therefore, the cards are unlike the parody in the only other circuit court decision addressing the constitutional tensions inherent in a celebrity parody, White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., 971 F.2d 1395 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 951, 124 L. Ed. 2d 660, 113 S. Ct. 2443 (1992). In that case, defendant Samsung published an advertisement featuring a costumed robot that parodied Vanna White, the letter-turner on television's Wheel of Fortune, and White sued for violation of her right of publicity. The court noted that in cases of noncommercial parodies, "the first amendment hurdle will bar most right of publicity actions against those activities." Id. at 1401 n.3. However, without [**31] engaging in a methodical commercial speech analysis of Samsung's First Amendment defense, the court ruled that White's claim was sufficient to withstand Samsung's motion for summary judgment. We disagree with the result in that case for reasons discussed in the two dissents that it engendered. Id. at 1407-08 (Alarcon, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); White v. Samsung Elecs. Am., Inc., 989 F.2d 1512, 1512-23 (9th Cir. 1993) (denial of rehearing en banc) (Kozinski, J., dissenting). Moreover, our case is distinguished by the fact that the speech involved is not commercial, but rather speech subject to full First Amendment protection. White, therefore, is inapposite, and we must directly confront the central problem in this case: whether Cardtoons' First Amendment right trumps MLBPA's property right.
C. Balancing Free Speech Rights with Property Rights
In resolving the tension between the First Amendment and publicity
rights in this case, we find little guidance in cases involving
parodies of other forms of intellectual property. Trademark and
copyright, for example, have built-in mechanisms that serve to
avoid First Amendment concerns of this kind. [**32] As discussed
above, proof of trademark infringement under the Lanham Act requires
proof of a likelihood of confusion, but, in the case of a good
trademark parody, there is little likelihood of confusion, since
the humor lies in the difference between the original and the
parody. The Copyright Act of 1976 contains a similar mechanism,
the fair use exception, which permits the use of [*971] copyrighted
materials for purposes such as criticism and comment. 17 U.S.C.
@ 107; see Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 114
S. Ct. 1164, 127 L. Ed. 2d 500 (1994) (applying the fair use exception
to parody). Oklahoma's right of publicity statute, however, does
not provide a similar accommodation for parody, and we must therefore
confront the First Amendment issue directly.
MLBPA urges us to adopt the framework established in Lloyd Corp.
v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551, 33 L. Ed. 2d 131, 92 S. Ct. 2219 (1972),
in order to reconcile the free speech and property rights at stake
in this case. The issue in Lloyd was whether a private shopping
center could prevent the distribution of handbills on its premises.
The Court focused on the availability of "adequate alternative
avenues of communication":
It would be an unwarranted infringement of property [**33]
rights to require [the shopping center] to yield to the exercise
of First Amendment rights under circumstances where adequate alternative
avenues of communication exist. Such an accommodation would diminish
property rights without significantly enhancing the asserted right
of free speech.
Id. at 567. The Court held that the First Amendment did not require
the shopping center to allow distribution of the handbills because
the public sidewalks and streets surrounding the center provided
an adequate alternative avenue of communication. Id. at 567-68.
This type of analysis, usually applied to time, place, and manner
restrictions, has also been applied in several cases where intellectual
property rights have conflicted with the right to free expression.
E.g., Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co. v. Novak, 836 F.2d 397, 402-03
(8th Cir. 1987) (holding that "Mutant of Omaha," a parody
of Mutual of Omaha's logo, constitutes trademark infringement),
cert. denied, 488 U.S. 933, 102 L. Ed. 2d 344, 109 S. Ct. 326
(1988); Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Inc. v. Pussycat Cinema,
Ltd., 604 F.2d 200, 206 (2d Cir. 1979) (holding that the use of
Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader uniforms in the film Debbie Does Dallas
constitutes [**34] trademark infringement).
MLBPA argues that application of the Lloyd analysis requires
protection of its proprietary right of publicity. First, MLBPA
maintains that there are many ways that Cardtoons could parody
the institution of baseball that would not require use of player
names and likenesses. Cardtoons could, for example, use generic
images of baseball players to poke fun at the game. Second, MLBPA
contends that Cardtoons could use recognizable players in a format
other than trading cards, such as a newspaper or magazine, without
infringing on its right of publicity. MLBPA argues that these
alternative means of communication are adequate and, therefore,
that we may uphold its property rights without seriously infringing
upon Cardtoons' right to free expression.
We find, however, that in the context of intellectual property,
Lloyd's "no adequate alternative avenues" test does
not sufficiently accommodate the public's interest in free expression.
See Rogers v. Grimaldi, 875 F.2d 994, 999 (2d Cir. 1989); Mutual
of Omaha Ins. Co., 836 F.2d at 405-06 (Heaney, J., dissenting).
Intellectual property, unlike real estate, includes the words,
images, and sounds that we [**35] use to communicate, and "we
cannot indulge in the facile assumption that one can forbid particular
words without also running a substantial risk of suppressing ideas
in the process," Cohen, 403 U.S. at 26; see San Francisco
Arts & Athletics, 483 U.S. at 569-570 (Brennan, J., dissenting).
Restrictions on the words or images that may be used by a speaker,
therefore, are quite different than restrictions on the time,
place, or manner of speech. Rogers, 875 F.2d at 999; see Robert
Denicola, Trademarks as Speech: Constitutional Implications of
the Emerging Rationales for the Protection of Trade Symbols, 1982
Wisc. L. Rev. 158, 206.
In this case, Cardtoons' expression requires use of player identities because, in addition to parodying the institution of baseball, the cards also lampoon individual players. Further, Cardtoons' use of the trading card format is an essential component of the parody because baseball cards have traditionally been used to celebrate baseball players and their accomplishments. Cardtoons expresses [*972] ideas through the use of major league baseball player identities, and MLBPA's attempts to enjoin the parody thus goes to the content of the speech, [**36] not merely to its time, place, or manner. For that reason, the Lloyd test is inapplicable in this case.
This case instead requires us to directly balance the magnitude of the speech restriction against the asserted governmental interest in protecting the intellectual property right. We thus begin our analysis by examining the importance of Cardtoons' right to free expression and the consequences of limiting that right. We then weigh those consequences against the effect of infringing on MLBPA's right of publicity.
1. The Effect of Infringing Upon Cardtoons' Right to Free Speech
Cardtoons' interest in publishing its parody trading cards implicates some of the core concerns of the First Amendment. "Parodies and caricatures," noted Aldous Huxley, "are the most penetrating of criticisms." Point Counter Point, ch. 13 (1928); see Hustler Magazine, 485 U.S. at 53-55. A parodist can, with deft and wit, readily expose the foolish and absurd in society. Parody is also a valuable form of self-expression that allows artists to shed light on earlier works and, at the same time, create new ones. Thus, parody, both as social criticism and a means of self-expression, is a [**37] vital commodity in the marketplace of ideas.
Parodies of celebrities are an especially valuable means of expression because of the role celebrities play in modern society. As one commentator explained, celebrities are "common points of reference for millions of individuals who may never interact with one another, but who share, by virtue of their participation in a mediated culture, a common experience and a collective memory." John B. Thompson, Ideology and Modern Culture: Critical Social Theory in the Era of Mass Communication 163 (1990). Through their pervasive presence in the media, sports and entertainment celebrities come to symbolize certain ideas and values. Commentator Michael Madow gives the following example:
Madow, supra, at 128 (footnotes omitted). Celebrities, then, [**38] are an important element of the shared communicative resources of our cultural domain.
Because celebrities are an important part of our public vocabulary, a parody of a celebrity does not merely lampoon the celebrity, but exposes the weakness of the idea or value that the celebrity symbolizes in society. Cardtoons' trading cards, for example, comment on the state of major league baseball by turning images of our sports heroes into modern-day personifications of avarice. In order to effectively criticize society, parodists need access to images that mean something to people, and thus celebrity parodies are a valuable communicative resource. Restricting the use of celebrity identities restricts the communication of ideas.
Without First Amendment protection, Cardtoons' trading cards and their irreverent commentary on the national pastime cannot be freely distributed to the public. Instead, as required by Oklahoma law, the production and distribution of the cards would be subject to MLBPA's consent. The problem with this scheme, as the Supreme Court noted in the context of copyright parody, is that "the unlikelihood that creators of imaginative works will license critical reviews or [**39] lampoons of their own productions removes such uses from the very notion of a potential licensing market." Campbell, 114 S. Ct. at 1178. The potential for suppression is even greater in the context of publicity rights because the product involved is the celebrity's own persona. Indeed, the director of licensing for MLBPA testified that MLBPA would never license a parody which poked fun at the players. Thus, elevating the right of publicity above the right [*973] to free expression would likely prevent distribution of the parody trading cards. This would not only allow MLBPA to censor criticism of its members, but would also have a chilling effect upon future celebrity parodies. Such a result is clearly undesirable, for "the last thing we need, the last thing the First Amendment will tolerate, is a law that lets public figures keep people from mocking them." White, 989 F.2d at 1519 (Kozinski, J., dissenting).
2. The Effect of Infringing Upon MLBPA's Right of Publicity
We now turn to an evaluation of society's interest in protecting MLBPA's publicity right. The justifications offered for the right of publicity fall into two categories, economic and noneconomic. The right [**40] is thought to further economic goals such as stimulating athletic and artistic achievement, promoting the efficient allocation of resources, and protecting consumers. In addition, the right of publicity is said to protect various noneconomic interests, such as safeguarding natural rights, securing the fruits of celebrity labors, preventing unjust enrichment, and averting emotional harm. We examine the applicability of each of these justifications to the facts of this case.
The principal economic argument made in support of the right of publicity is that it provides an incentive for creativity and achievement. See, e.g., Zacchini, 433 U.S. at 576-77; Carson v. Here's Johnny Portable Toilets, Inc., 698 F.2d 831, 837 (6th Cir. 1983). Under this view, publicity rights induce people to expend the time, effort, and resources to develop the talents prerequisite to public recognition. While those talents provide immediate benefit to those with commercially valuable identities, the products of their enterprise--such as movies, songs, and sporting events--ultimately benefit society as a whole. Thus, it is argued, society has an interest in a right of publicity that is closely analogous [**41] to its interest in other intellectual property protections such as copyright and patent law. Zacchini, 433 U.S. at 576.
This incentives argument is certainly a compelling justification
for other forms of intellectual property. Copyright law, for example,
protects the primary, if not only, source of a writer's income,
and thus provides a significant incentive for creativity and achievement.
The incentive effect of publicity rights, however, has been overstated.
Most sports and entertainment celebrities with commercially valuable
identities engage in activities that themselves generate a significant
amount of income; the commercial value of their identities is
merely a by-product of their performance values. See Restatement
(Third) of Unfair Competition @ 46 cmt. c. Although no one pays
to watch Cormac McCarthy write a novel, many people pay a lot
of money to watch Demi Moore "act" and Michael Jordan
play basketball. Thus, the analogy to the incentive effect of
other intellectual property protections is strained because "abolition
of the right of publicity would leave entirely unimpaired a celebrity's
ability to earn a living from the activities that have generated
his commercially [**42] marketable fame." Madow, supra, at
209.
This distinction between the value of a person's identity and
the value of his performance explains why Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard
Broadcasting Corp., 433 U.S. 562, 53 L. Ed. 2d 965, 97 S. Ct.
2849 (1977), the Supreme Court's sole case involving a right of
publicity claim, is a red herring. Hugo Zacchini, a performer
in a human cannonball act, brought an action against a television
station to recover damages he suffered when the station videotaped
and broadcast his entire performance. The Supreme Court held that
the First Amendment did not give the station the right to broadcast
Zacchini's entire act in contravention of his state protected
right of publicity. Id. at 574-75. Zacchini, however, complained
of the appropriation of the economic value of his performance,
not the economic value of his identity. The Court's incentive
rationale is obviously more compelling in a right of performance
case than in a more typical right of publicity case involving
the appropriation of a celebrity's identity. See Restatement (Third)
of Unfair Competition @ 46 reporters' note cmt. c.
[*974] Moreover, the additional inducement for achievement produced by publicity rights are [**43] often inconsequential because most celebrities with valuable commercial identities are already handsomely compensated. Actor Jim Carrey, for example, received twenty million dollars for starring in the movie The Cable Guy, see Bernard Weinraub, How a Sure Summer Hit Missed, N.Y. Times, June 27, 1996, at C11, and major league baseball players' salaries currently average over one million dollars per year, see Bill Brashler, Boooooooooooooooo! Let's Hear It for Pampered, Preening, Overpaid Whiners: The Jocks, Chi. Trib., July 28, 1996, (Magazine), at 12. Such figures suggest that "even without the right of publicity the rate of return to stardom in the entertainment and sports fields is probably high enough to bring forth a more than 'adequate' supply of creative effort and achievement." Madow, supra, at 210. In addition, even in the absence of publicity rights, celebrities would still be able to reap financial reward from authorized appearances and endorsements. The extra income generated by licensing one's identity does not provide a necessary inducement to enter and achieve in the realm of sports and entertainment. Thus, while publicity rights may provide some [**44] incentive for creativity and achievement, the magnitude and importance of that incentive has been exaggerated.
The argument that publicity rights provide valuable incentives
is even less compelling in the context of celebrity parodies.
Since celebrities will seldom give permission for their identities
to be parodied, granting them control over the parodic use of
their identities would not directly provide them with any additional
income. It would, instead, only allow them to shield themselves
from ridicule and criticism. The only economic incentive gained
by having control over the use of one's identity in parody is
control over the potential effect the parody would have on the
market for nonparodic use of one's identity. MLBPA claims, for
example, that publication of the parody cards will decrease demand
for traditional baseball cards because Cardtoons and other makers
of parody trading cards would compete with manufacturers of licensed
cards in the same limited trading card market. Parody, however,
rarely acts as a market substitute for the original, Campbell,
114 S. Ct. at 1177-78, and there is no evidence in this record
that convinces us otherwise. Even if there is some substitutive
[**45] effect, and card collectors with limited resources decide
to buy parody cards instead of traditional, licensed cards, the
small amount of additional income generated by suppressing parody
cards will have little, if any, effect on the incentive to become
a major league baseball player.
The incentives argument would be even more tenuous, indeed perverse,
if good-humored celebrities were to license use of their identities
for parody. The right of publicity would then provide an incentive
to engage in the socially undesirable behavior that might give
rise to a reason to parody. Although part of any parody's market
appeal depends upon the prominence of the celebrity, the critical
element of the parody's value hinges on the accuracy of the caricature
or criticism. Society does not have a significant interest in
allowing a celebrity to protect the type of reputation that gives
rise to parody.
We recognize that publicity rights do provide some incentive to achieve in the fields of sports and entertainment. However, the inducements generated by publicity rights are not nearly as important as those created by copyright and patent law, and the small incentive effect of publicity rights is [**46] reduced or eliminated in the context of celebrity parodies. In sum, it is unlikely that little leaguers will stop dreaming of the big leagues or major leaguers will start "dogging it" to first base if MLBPA is denied the right to control the use of its members' identities in parody.
The second economic justification for the right of publicity
is that it promotes the efficient allocation of resources, a version
of the familiar tragedy of the commons argument used to prove
the superiority of private property over common property. See,
e.g., Matthews v. Wozencraft, 15 F.3d 432, 437-38 (5th Cir. 1994).
Without the artificial scarcity created by publicity rights, identities
would be commercially exploited until the marginal value of each
use is zero. Id. "Creating artificial scarcity preserves
the value to [the celebrity], to advertisers who contract for
the [*975] use of his likeness, and in the end, to consumers,
who receive information from the knowledge that he is being paid
to endorse the product." Id. at 438. Giving people control
of the commercial use of their identities, according to this analysis,
maximizes the economic and informational value of those identities.
This [**47] efficiency argument is most persuasive in the context
of advertising, where repeated use of a celebrity's likeness to
sell products may eventually diminish its commercial value. The
argument is not as persuasive, however, when applied to nonadvertising
uses. It is not clear, for example, that the frequent appearance
of a celebrity's likeness on t-shirts and coffee mugs will reduce
its value; indeed, the value of the likeness may increase precisely
because "everybody's got one." Madow, supra, at 222.
Further, celebrities with control over the parodic use of their
identities would not use the power to "ration the use of
their names in order to maximize their value over time,"
Matthews, 15 F.3d at 438 n.2. They would instead use that power
to suppress criticism, and thus permanently remove a valuable
source of information about their identity from the marketplace.
The final economic argument offered for rights of publicity is
that they protect against consumer deception. See, e.g., Restatement
(Third) of Unfair Competition @ 46 cmt. c; McCarthy, supra, @
2.4; Peter L. Felcher & Edward L. Rubin, Privacy, Publicity,
and the Portrayal of Real People by the Media, 88 [**48] Yale
L.J. 1577, 1600 (1979). The Lanham Act, however, already provides
nationwide protection against false or misleading representations
in connection with the sale of products. Moreover, as discussed
above, the use of celebrity names or likenesses in parodies in
general, and in Cardtoons' trading cards in particular, are not
likely to confuse or deceive consumers. Thus, this final economic
justification has little merit.
There are also several noneconomic reasons advanced for the right
of publicity. First, some believe that publicity rights stem from
some notion of natural rights. McCarthy, for example, argues that
a natural rights rationale, resting more upon "visceral impulses
of 'fairness'" than upon reasoned argument, "seems quite
sufficient to provide a firm support for the existence of a Right
of Publicity." McCarthy, supra, @ 2.1[A]. McCarthy, however,
offers little reason for this assertion, and blind appeals to
first principles carry no weight in our balancing analysis.
The second noneconomic justification is that publicity rights allow celebrities to enjoy the fruits of their labors. See, e.g., Zacchini, 433 U.S. at 573; Uhlaender v. Henricksen, 316 [**49] F. Supp. 1277, 1282 (D. Minn. 1970). According to this argument, "[a] celebrity must be considered to have invested his years of practice and competition in a public personality which eventually may reach marketable status." Uhlaender, 316 F. Supp. at 1282. People deserve the right to control and profit from the commercial value of their identities because, quite simply, they've earned it. Thus, in this view, the right of publicity is similar to the right of a commercial enterprise to profit from the goodwill it has built up in its name. Ali v. Playgirl, Inc., 447 F. Supp. 723, 728-29 (S.D.N.Y. 1978).
Celebrities, however, are often not fully responsible for their fame. Indeed, in the entertainment industry, a celebrity's fame may largely be the creation of the media or the audience. See Madow, supra at 184-96 (discussing the role of factors beyond a celebrity's control in developing a commercially marketable persona). As one actor put it, "Only that audience out there makes a star. It's up to them. You can't do anything about it . . . . Stars would all be Louis B. Mayer's cousins if you could make 'em up." Jack Nicholson, quoted in Jib Fowles, Starstruck: [**50] Celebrity Performers and the American Public 84 (1992). Professional athletes may be more responsible for their celebrity status, however, because athletic success is fairly straightforwardly the result of an athlete's natural talent and dedication. Thus, baseball players may deserve to profit from the commercial value of their identities more than movie stars. Once again, however, the force of this justification is diminished in the case of parody, because there is little right to [*976] enjoy the fruits of socially undesirable behavior.
The third, related justification for publicity rights is the prevention of unjust enrichment. See, e.g., Zacchini, 433 U.S. at 576; Ali, 447 F. Supp. at 728- 29. In this view, whether the commercial value of an identity is the result of a celebrity's hard work, media creation, or just pure dumb luck, no social purpose is served by allowing others to freely appropriate it. Cardtoons, however, is not merely hitching its wagon to a star. As in all celebrity parodies, Cardtoons added a significant creative component of its own to the celebrity identity and created an entirely new product. Indeed, allowing MLBPA to control or profit from the parody [**51] trading cards would actually sanction the theft of Cardtoons' creative enterprise.
A final justification offered for the right of publicity is that it prevents emotional injuries. For example, commercial misappropriation may greatly distress a celebrity who finds all commercial exploitation to be offensive. Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, 25 Cal. 3d 813, 603 P.2d 425, 439 n.11, 160 Cal. Rptr. 323 (Cal. 1979) (Bird, C.J., dissenting). Even celebrities who crave public attention might find particular uses of their identities to be distressing. See, e.g., O'Brien v. Pabst Sales Co.,124 F.2d 167, 170 (5th Cir 1942) (professional football player, active in an organization devoted to discouraging alcohol use among young people, sued to stop the use of his image in a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer advertising calendar). The right of publicity allows celebrities to avoid the emotional distress caused by unwanted commercial use of their identities. Publicity rights, however, are meant to protect against the loss of financial gain, not mental anguish. Zacchini, 433 U.S. at 573; Lugosi, 603 P.2d at 438-39 (Bird, C.J., dissenting). Laws preventing unfair competition, such as the Lanham Act, and laws prohibiting the intentional [**52] infliction of emotional distress adequately cover that ground. Moreover, fame is a double-edged sword--the law cannot allow those who enjoy the public limelight to so easily avoid the ridicule and criticism that sometimes accompany public prominence.
Thus, the noneconomic justifications for the right of publicity are no more compelling than the economic arguments. Those justifications further break down in the context of parody, where the right to profit from one's persona is reduced to the power to suppress criticism. In sum, the effect of limiting MLBPA's right of publicity in this case is negligible.
One of the primary goals of intellectual property law is to maximize creative expression. The law attempts to achieve this goal by striking a proper balance between the right of a creator to the fruits of his labor and the right of future creators to free expression. Underprotection of intellectual property reduces the incentive to create; overprotection creates a monopoly over the raw material of creative expression. The application of the Oklahoma publicity rights statute to Cardtoons' trading cards presents a classic case of overprotection. Little is to [**53] be gained, and much lost, by protecting MLBPA's right to control the use of its members' identities in parody trading cards. The justifications for the right of publicity are not nearly as compelling as those offered for other forms of intellectual property, and are particularly unpersuasive in the case of celebrity parodies. The cards, on the other hand, are an important form of entertainment and social commentary that deserve First Amendment protection. Accordingly, we AFFIRM.
We GRANT the motion by First Amendment Publishing, Inc. for leave to file an amicus curiae brief, DENY the motion by appellee to strike, and GRANT the motion by appellee to file a supplemental appendix and brief in support.