Olivia Clavio Discusses Right-of-Publicity Issues in Social Media Marketing With Bloomberg Law

Intellectual property counsel Olivia Clavio spoke with Bloomberg Law about the right-of-publicity issues raised by soccer player Erling Haaland’s lawsuit against Norwegian Air Shuttle over a social media advertisement depicting his distinctive ponytail on an airplane.

Clavio compared the dispute with Vanna White’s publicity rights case over an advertisement featuring a robot turning letters on a board. Haaland’s case is “a little bit different” because the robot was doing what White was widely known to do, said Clavio. But the hair-plane was still recognizable as Haaland’s, she said.

“That’s the North Star of right of publicity: what is it we’re commercializing,” Clavio said. “If it’s something so easily recognizable that you know who it is, we have crossed into that territory.”