Hebrew University of Jerusalem v. General Motors LLC

General Motors LLC (GM) (defendant) used an image of Albert Einstein in an advertisement for its 2010 Terrain vehicle. The ad ran in one issue of People magazine and showed Einstein’s face pasted on a muscled body. Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) (plaintiff) claimed to own Einstein’s right of publicity under Einstein’s will and that HUJ had exclusive control over the use of Einstein’s name and likeness. Einstein’s will did not specifically mention a right of publicity, and Einstein did not receive compensation for the use of his persona while Einstein was alive. Einstein lived in New Jersey at the time of his death in 1955. HUJ sued GM for unauthorized use of Einstein’s image, alleging a violation of HUJ’s rights. The court permitted HUJ to try to prove that Einstein would have transferred his postmortem right of publicity to HUJ had Einstein been aware of such a right at the time of his death and to prove that GM violated that right. GM argued that even if HUJ could prove Einstein’s intent to transfer the right and that GM violated the right, too much time had elapsed between Einstein’s death in 1955 and the filing of the lawsuit in 2010. HUJ filed a motion requesting that the California federal court find that the duration of the postmortem right of publicity in New Jersey was either indefinite or lasted for 70 years after death, as with copyrights under the Copyright Act.