Too Many Colbert’s to Count: Stephen Colbert is Facing a Copyright Infringement Claim for Portraying “Stephen Colbert”
CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert is in hot water and facing a copyright infringement claim from his former employer Comedy Central for playing none other than … Stephen Colbert? Comedy Central’s parent company, Viacom, contacted CBS’s top lawyer after Stephen Colbert brought back his former, ultra-conservative character “Stephen Colbert” from “The Colbert Report.” Viacom claims that the character of “Stephen Colbert” is their intellectual property. The dispute over who has the right to use “Stephen Colbert” arose after the real Stephen Colbert used the “Stephen Colbert” character during a portion of his new show on CBS, The Late Show. Colbert responded to Viacom’s claims by promising on his show that he would never perform the character of “Stephen Colbert” from “The Colbert Report” ever again. However, immediately after this promise, Colbert introduced his new character, the twin cousin of “Stephen Colbert”, who also happened to be named “Stephen Colbert.”
Discussing the copyright implications of Colbert’s use of his own name, Georgetown Law Professor Rebecca Tushnet stated that the claim that Colbert violated a copyright or trademark that shared his name is “not a claim that would necessarily be laughed out of court,” especially if Colbert had an agreement with Viacom that specifically spelled out the character’s ownership. However, Tushnet also stated that if the case were to go to court, then Colbert would likely prevail “because [the character] is so central to who he is, and courts are protective of artists’ freedom to continue making art in their own style.”
Source: http://www.bna.com/colbert-questions-intellectual-b73014445637/
For more information on this topic, please visit our Copyright Infringement Defense service page, which is part of our Software & Copyrights practice.
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