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The Crimson Tide Bleeds Lawsuits
My undergraduate alma mater is the University of Arkansas, where our football team is currently sporting a nine game winning streak and riding atop the SEC West. One of our biggest rivals, of course, is the University of Alabama, a team that — let’s just be honest — ain’t doing so well this season. Over at the U of Alabama, an artist and hugetastic ‘Bama fan, Daniel Moore, has made quite a name for himself painting famous moments in the football team’s history.
Moore, in fact, has an entire art gallery devoted primarily to sports moments in University of Alabama history — he’s a graduate of the school, and has three daughters that are either attending the university or graduated from it. For two decades, in fact, Moore was given free sideline passes to U of A games.
But, the University of Alabama, nevertheless, has decided that it doesn’t want Moore selling paintings of Alabama sports history anymore. It’s not because they don’t like his work, but rather, it’s because they suddenly feel that their intellectual property rights are being violated. So, naturally, the University of Alabama has decided to sue Moore, asking a federal judge to forbid him from using the University’s “famous crimson and white color scheme.” Moore, for his part, argues that his paintings deserve First Amendment protection, analogizing his work to that of photojournalists who replicate scenes on the field.
All of this, of course, is part of a growing trend, whereby colleges and universities are attempting to hold on to exclusive control of their intellectual property rights. But, it’s also kind of absurd to bring a lawsuit like this against someone like Mr. Moore, whose work — I can only imagine — actually increases the perceived value of the University of Alabama, particularly considering the number of Alabamans who own Moore’s work in their homes.
In either respect, I’m just curious: Does Mr. Moore have loving renditions of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks’ defeat of the University of Alabama in overtime earlier this year, thanks to the Bama kicker’s three missed field goals and his missed extra point in overtime? Or what about their stunning double-overtime loss to the Hogs in 2003? Just wondering.
