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Back in January, photographer Jacobus Rentmeester filed a lawsuit in federal court in Portland, Oregon claiming Nike violated copyright laws using his photo of Michael Jordan for the Jumpman logo. Now, months into the pending case, things have taken a strange turn.
The federal court proceedings covered this week by Oregon Live, finds Rentmeester’s counsel emphatically claiming his client created the iconic photo and that Nike essentially stole it. Well, the judge in the case seems to find that less than mildly entertaining. Using LeBron James as an example, the judge claims “If you had a different person in the identical pose, then the pose itself is not anything for which you can seek copyright protection; is that right?”
Not to be outdone, Rentmeester’s attorney protested that MJ’s left-handed dunk in the timeless image was not his tendency, and that it was in fact influenced by his client. He’d go on to say “This is Michael Jordan doing a pose that he had never done before that was the invention of Mr. Rentmeester and that is not a natural result of any kind of movement that would be typical in a basketball game or typically Michael Jordan… Jordan is holding the basketball in his left hand. That is his non-shooting hand.”
Well, as compelling or as silly as that may sound depending on who’s listening, the judge sided with the latter. When faced with the aforementioned protest: “Apparently nobody in your law firm ever tried to guard Michael Jordan from dunking a basketball. I don’t know why that’s his non dunking hand,” the judge stated.
Thus, all indications from the reaction(s) of the judge lead us to believe this case is going nowhere, as pointed out in our opinion piece months ago. Further, Nike attorney’s don’t seem to be taking this too seriously either, downplaying Rentmeester’s claim to the upmost. “The photographer doesn’t make up what’s before them. Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan. A rock is a rock,” Nike’s attorney would say. Yikes. This thing might be over before you know it.
Source: Oregon Live
