Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc.

In 1984, Jacobus Rentmeester (plaintiff) photographed Michael Jordan leaping toward an out-of-reach basketball hoop with a basketball raised in his left hand. Jordan’s image was not centered, and he was a relatively small, partially shadowed figure. Jacobus took the photograph in a grassy field, told Jordan what type of ballet-inspired leap to make, positioned the camera below Jordan, and captured Jordan’s image against a sunny sky. After Rentmeester’s photograph appeared in Life magazine, Nike, Inc. (defendant) asked Rentmeester if Nike could borrow transparencies of the photograph. Rentmeester granted Nike a limited license to use the transparencies in slide presentations. Nike subsequently hired a photographer to photograph Jordan leaping toward a basketball hoop with a basketball raised in his left hand. Nike’s photograph was taken outside and from a similar angle as Rentmeester’s photograph. However, Jordan’s limbs were positioned differently; Jordan was centered, dominant, and brightly lit; and the hoop was at an attainable height for Jordan to dunk the ball. Additionally, Nike’s photograph showed Jordan above the Chicago skyline against an orange-and-purple sky. In 1987, Nike created the Jumpman logo—a black silhouette of Jordan’s body as it appeared in Nike’s photograph—which became one of Nike’s most recognizable trademarks. Rentmeester sued Nike, alleging that Nike’s photograph and the Jumpman logo infringed Rentmeester’s copyright in the 1984 photograph. The district court concluded that neither the photograph nor the logo infringed Rentmeester’s copyright as a matter of law and dismissed the action. Rentmeester appealed.