APL-2017-00027 and APL-2017-00028 New York County Clerk’s Index No. 156443/14 Court of Appeals of the State of New York APL-2017-00027 KAREN GRAVANO, Plaintiff-Appellant, – against – TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC., and ROCKSTAR GAMES, Defendants-Respondents. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– APL-2017-00028 LINDSAY LOHAN, Plaintiff-Respondent, – against – TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC., ROCKSTAR GAMES, ROCKSTAR GAMES, INC. and ROCKSTAR NORTH, Defendants-Appellants. BRIEF FOR AMICUS CURIAE JARRYD HUNTLEY PATRICK S. KABAT* DIRECTOR, THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE ARTS PROJECT THE SPANGENBERG CENTER FOR LAW, TECHNOLOGY & THE ARTS, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW Attorney for Amicus Curiae 11075 East Boulevard Cleveland, Ohio 44106 Tel.: (216) 368-6855 Fax: (216) 368-2086 * Counsel thanks Andrew Geronimo, Esq., the Project’s Stanton Litigation Fellow, and CWRU School of Law students Tawnya Bell, Amina McClain, Lidia Mowad, and Brooke Tyus, who contributed research to this brief. Date Completed: November 15, 2017 Table of Contents Table of Authorities ................................................................................... iii Interest of Amicus Curiae .......................................................................... 1 Summary of Argument ............................................................................... 3 Argument .................................................................................................... 9 I. Section 51 Does Not Apply To “Works Of Fiction” .......................... 9 II. The First Amendment Protects “Works Of Fiction” ...................... 10 A. The Supreme Court Protects Fiction ......................................... 12 B. This Court Makes Fiction Actionable Again ............................. 13 C. The Supreme Court Protects Fiction Again .............................. 16 D. This Court Makes Fiction Actionable Again, Again ................. 20 E. Courts Restore Protections For “Works of Fiction” ................... 21 F. This Court Affirms the “Work of Fiction” Doctrine ................... 21 G. Hicks Weighs Interests And Protects Fiction ........................... 22 III. The Celebrities’ Request To Withdraw Protections For “Works of Fiction” From Videogames Should Be Denied .............. 26 A. Authors (And Judges) Need Categorical Rules ......................... 26 B. The First Department Correctly Protected GTAV As A “Work Of Fiction” ..................................................................... 28 C. A Pop Star And A Mob Wife Walk Into A Videogame .............. 31 1. Lohan’s Concerns Are Meritless ........................................ 31 2. Gravano’s Concerns Are Illusory ....................................... 33 3. Porco Is An Aberration ...................................................... 34 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 37 Certificate of Compliance ......................................................................... 38 Table of Authorities Cases: Binns v. Vitograph, 210 N.Y. 51 (1913) ................................................................... passim Bleistein v. Donaldson, 188 U.S. 239 (1903) ......................................................................... 27 Brinkley v. Casablancas, 80 A.D.2d 428 (1st Dep’t 1981) ....................................................... 27 Brown v. EMA, 564 U.S. 786 (2011) ................................................................. 6, 9, 27 Burstyn v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495 (1952) ......................................................... 4, 13, 14, 21 Carter-Clark v. Random House, 17 A.D.3d 241 (1st Dep’t 2005) ....................................................... 24 Costanza v. Seinfeld, 279 A.D.2d 255 (1st Dep’t 2001) ................................................. 9, 24 Donahue v. Warner Bros., 272 P.2d 177 (Utah 1954).......................................................... 10, 13 Flores v. Mosler, 7 N.Y.2d 276 (1959) ................................................................... 13, 15 Frosch v. Grosset, 75 A.D.2d 768 (1st Dep’t 1980) ....................................................... 27 Gravano v. Take-Two, 142 A.D.3d 776 (1st Dep’t 2016) ..................................................... 28 Guglielmi v. Spelling-Goldberg, 603 P.2d 454 (1979) ................................................................. passim Hampton v. Guare, 195 A.D.2d 366 (1st Dep’t 1993) ........................................... 9, 24, 28 ii Hicks v. Casablanca, 464 F. Supp. 426 (S.D.N.Y. 1978) ........................................... passim Hill v. Hayes, 15 N.Y.2d 986 (1965) ....................................................................... 16 Holmes v. Winter, 22 N.Y.3d 300 (2013) ......................................................................... 5 Howell v. N.Y. Post, 81 N.Y.2d 115 (1993) .................................................................... 15, 19 Humiston v. Universal, 189 A.D. 467 (1st Dep’t 1919) ......................................................... 11 Julian Messner, Inc. v. Spahn, 1968 WL 129237 (Mar. 26, 1968) .................................................... 20 Koussevitzky v. Allen, 188 Misc. 479 (Sup. Ct. 1947) ......................................................... 12 Lahiri v. Daily Mirror, 162 Misc. 776 (Sup. Ct. 1937) ......................................................... 12 Leopold v. Levin, 259 N.E.2d 250 (Ill. 1970) ......................................................... 10, 24 Messenger v. Gruner, 94 N.Y.2d 436 (2000) ............................................................... passim Molony v. Boy Comics, 277 A.D. 166 (1st Dep’t 1950) ......................................................... 13 Mutual Film v. Indus. Comm’n of Ohio, 236 U.S. 230 (1915) ................................................................... 10, 27 New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) ................................................................... 14, 19 Notre Dame v. Twentieth Century-Fox, 22 A.D.2d 452 (1st Dep’t 1965), aff’d, 15 N.Y.2d 940 ............ passim iii Pathe v. Cobb, 202 A.D. 450 (3d Dep’t 1922) .......................................................... 11 Porco v. Lifetime, 147 A.D.3d 1253 (3d Dep’t 2017) .............................................. 33, 36 Rogers v. Grimaldi, 875 F.2d 994 (2d Cir. 1989) ................................................. 10, 24, 32 Rosemont v. McGraw-Hill, 85 Misc. 2d 583 (Sup. Ct. 1975) ...................................................... 24 Sarver v. Chartier, 813 F.3d 891 (9th Cir. 2016) ........................................................... 26 Spahn v. Messner, 18 N.Y.2d 324 (1966) ............................................................... passim Spahn v. Messner, 21 N.Y.2d 124 (1967) ............................................................... passim Sutton v. Hearst, 277 A.D.2d 155 (1st Dep’t 1950) ..................................................... 12 Time v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374 (1967) ................................................................. passim U.S. v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709 (2012) ......................................................................... 15 U.S. v. One Book Called “Ulysses,” 5 F. Supp. 182 (S.D.N.Y. 1933) ......................................................... 7 Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507 (1948) ................................................................. passim Zacchini v. Scripps, 433 U.S. 562 (1977) ................................................................. passim iv Statutes & Other Authorities: First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ..................................... passim Civil Rights Law, § 51 ...................................................................... passim Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition § 47 (1995) ........................ 10 Alfred Hill, Defamation and Privacy Under the First Amendment, 76 COLUM. L. REV. 1205 (1976).................................. 30 Edward Castronova, The Right To Play, THE STATE OF PLAY: LAW, GAMES, AND VIRTUAL WORLDS 34 (2003) .......................... 29, 30 Greg Lastowka & Dan Hunter, Virtual Worlds: A Primer, THE STATE OF PLAY .......................................................................... 30 J. Thomas McCarthy, 2 THE RIGHTS OF PUBLICITY AND PRIVACY § 8:87 (2d ed.) ................................................................................... 17 Janet H. Murray, HAMLET ON THE HOLODECK: THE FUTURE OF NARRATIVE IN CYBERSPACE (MIT University Press 2016) ................ 6 Jason Schreier, Video Games Are Destroying The People Who Make Them (NEW YORK TIMES, Oct. 25, 2017) ................................. 8 Michael Wood, Prologue, LIES AND FICTION IN THE ANCIENT WORLD xvi (Christopher Gill & T.P. Wiseman, eds. 1995) ............ 29 Patrick Kabat, The Right Of Publicity (YALE LAW SCHOOL, May 31, 2016) ................................................. 23 Richard A. Bartle, Virtual Worldliness, THE STATE OF PLAY .................. 29 Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story (Lifetime 2013) ............................. 35 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria (1817) ............................ 5 The Future of Imagination, The City Club of Cleveland (Oct. 13, 2017) .................................................................................... 7 TMZ.COM, Lindsay Lohan: rolling in $$$$$ (Aug. 13, 2012) .................... 8 v Interest of Amicus Curiae These cases determine whether independent (“indie”) videogame developers