FiT Publishing

Originality is “[t]he sine qua non of copyright” (Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Ser. Co., 1991, p. 345), meaning without originality there is no copyright. Yet, what if original work capable of copyright protection existed on the bodies of celebrity athletes? Should courts use copyright law to protect the copyright owner at the expense of the athletes’ right to control the commercial use of their own bodies? These are the issues presented in Solid Oak Sketches, LLC v. Take- Two Interactive Software, Inc., (2016), a copyright action brought by tattooists against video game...Read more

The purpose of the study was two-fold: (1) to examine the influence athletic performance has on the elements of source credibility, and (2) to investigate its impact on the causal relationships among consumers’ brand attitude, attitude toward the advertisement, and purchase intentions. A between-group experimental design was chosen to assess differences in the source credibility based on an athletic endorser’s on-field performance. Findings identified differences in the elements of source credibility based on an athlete endorser’s on-field performance, while the decomposition of the...Read more

This research reports on two studies that examine the roles of product-endorser “fit” with celebrity and non-celebrity endorsers by comparing the effects of a famous athlete and an unknown model on a variety of consumer responses. Additionally, schema theory is tested as the mechanism driving these effects. The results of the first experiment suggest that a famous athlete is more effective when endorsing a sport brand than a non-sport brand, but only for enhancing the image of the celebrity. In the second experiment, an anonymous model is identified as either a famous athlete or not and is...Read more

Celebrity endorsements in the sport industry continue to increase both in number and value. For example, sport celebrities ascribe their names to such products as soap, soda, cars, underwear, financial planning services, internet services, bubble gum, and a host of sport specific products (shoes, apparel, sports equipment, etc.). These product endorsements can earn a professional athlete substantial sums of money, and for many professional athletes they can actually earn more from endorsements than their player salaries or earnings. However, endorsements are a form of advertising subject...Read more