The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Lynyrd Skynyrd airplane crash movie blocked by judge, on breach-of-contract grounds
Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter has a summary, and you can read the opinion here; Pages 55-60 discuss (and reject) the First Amendment defense. The bottom line:
Cleopatra [Films] is prohibited from making its movie about Lynyrd Skynyrd when its partner [Artimus Pyle] substantively contributes to the project in a way that, in the past, he willingly bargained away the very right to do just that; in any other circumstance, Cleopatra would be as "free as a bird" to make and distribute its work. The First Amendment is not infringed by such private and voluntary decisions, and the Court has the authority to protect those previously bargained-for rights.
The Supreme Court has indeed held that damages can be awarded for breach-of-nondisclosure agreements, see Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1991); it hasn't discussed whether courts can also issue injunctions against speech that breaches a contract, but lower courts have generally concluded that such injunctions are allowed, see, e.g., Perricone v. Perricone (Conn. 2009).
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?