Outside the Beltway

ROCKY SUES ROCKY

James Joyner · Monday, November 10, 2003 · 5 comments

Interesting:

The boxer who was the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky” films plans to file a lawsuit against the actor for illegally using his name to promote the films and other merchandise, attorneys said Friday.

Chuck Wepner, 65, is seeking $15 million in damages from the right of publicity claim, said his attorney Anthony Mango. The suit will be filed next week in New Jersey State Court.

“Stallone is keenly aware that having a movie based on true story adds an appeal and he capitalizes on that, but has never given Chuck anything back,” Mango said.

Eugene Volokh explains

No, it’s not legally actionable for a writer to use your name in honestly describing the inspiration for his work. Even if Stallone is intentionally trying to “capitalize” on this story (not terribly likely, I think, but say it’s so), he’s perfectly entitled to do so, just as biographers or journalists are perfectly to “capitalize” on others’ names and stories when writing their works. Wepner wouldn’t be entitled to get damages from someone who wrote a biography of him (unless the biography was libelous, which isn’t an issue here). He’s likewise not entitled to get damages from someone who was inspired by him in making a movie, and who reveals this inspiration in discussing the movie.

Especially considering that no one has ever heard of Wepner and that all he did was unknowingly provide inspiration to Stallone, who otherwise invented the Rocky characer out of whole cloth, that seems fair enough.