McFarland v. Miller

George McFarland (plaintiff) was an actor who played the character Spanky in the Our Gang movies. Over the years, McFarland claimed, he became closely associated with the Spanky character and even became known as Spanky McFarland. Throughout his career, McFarland received income from licensing and other uses of the name Spanky McFarland. Joseph Miller (defendant) was the primary shareholder and president of a company that owned and operated a restaurant named Spanky McFarland’s. The restaurant décor featured large murals depicting the Our Gang characters, including Spanky, and the menu referred to Our Gang characters’ names. Miller testified in his deposition that he knew that the name of the restaurant was the same as that of the actor who portrayed the Our Gang character, but that he chose the name because Spanky was once a nickname of Miller’s son and Miller thought McFarland sounded Irish. McFarland sued Miller, alleging that Miller had infringed on McFarland’s right of publicity to exploit the name Spanky McFarland. Miller filed a motion for summary judgment. The district court granted the motion, holding that McFarland’s interest in exploiting the name was limited because Spanky was a character that McFarland portrayed and the studio that produced the Our Gang movies had a superior interest in the right of publicity of the character. McFarland appealed, then died while the appeal was pending.