Ginger Rogers, Plaintiff, filed a lawsuit against Alberto Grimaldi, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. and the Produzioni Europee Associate, Defendant, claiming that the producers and distributors of the motion picture, “Ginger and Fred,” violated the Lanham Act and infringed upon her common law rights of publicity and privacy. The District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed her summary judgment of her claims. Rogers appeals this decision.
Facts:
Ginger Rogers, an international star and Academy Award winner, built her principle fame in a series of motion pictures that she starred along with Fred Astaire, including pictures - “Top Hat” and “The Barkleys of Broadway.”
Roger built herself a household name and delved into all levels of entertainment productions and businesses ranging from commercials to autobiographies and not limited to her own lingerie line, “GINGER
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The play proceed to play shortly in several American theaters. Following the picture’s distribution, Roger sought monetary damage and permanent injunctive relief, alleging that the production company violated the Lanham Act, through creating a wrongful impression that the film was about her and involved her participation, and violated her common law right of publicity along with defamation of her character - by depicting her in a false light - and her right to privacy.
The defendants moved for summary judgment and as a resistance to this movement, Rogers provided evidence that when the company’s publicists, first heard about the film, they proceeded to gather old photos of Astaire and Rogers to use in the picture’s advertisement campaign. . Moreover, Roger provided market summaries that supported that idea that movie viewers were misled to believe that Rogers was somehow connected with the