Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Class Action- Illinois Right of Publicity Act

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//November 28, 2022//

Class Action- Illinois Right of Publicity Act

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//November 28, 2022//

Listen to this article

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Elizabeth Huston v. Hearst Communications, Incorporated

Case No.: 22-1489

Officials: Sykes, Chief Judge, and Flaum and Lee, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Class Action- Illinois Right of Publicity Act

Elizabeth Huston, a Good Housekeeping magazine subscriber, filed a putative class action complaint alleging a media conglomerate, Hearst Communications, Inc., violated her right of publicity by offering to sell and selling mailing lists containing her, and 9.1 million other subscribers’, identifying information. As redress, Huston seeks statutory damages as provided by the Illinois Right of Publicity Act (IRPA) and an injunction requiring Hearst to obtain prior written consent before selling its subscribers’ information in this manner.

The district court granted Hearst’s motion to dismiss because it found Huston failed to sufficiently allege an IRPA violation. Judgment was entered, and this appeal ensued. IRPA prohibits the use or holding out of a person’s identifying information to offer to sell or sell a product, piece of merchandise, good, or service; it contemplates a use or holding out of an individual’s identity with the aim of effectuating a sale. Any use or holding out must either accompany an offer to sell or precede the sale, but it cannot follow the sale. Huston failed to allege that Hearst used or held out her identity to effectuate the sale of the mailing lists or her Good Housekeeping subscription.

Affirmed.

Decided 11/22/22

Full Text

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests