Ryan v. Volpone Stamp Co.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
107 F. Supp. 2d 369 (2000)
- Written by Jenny Perry, JD
Facts
Retired Major League Baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan (plaintiff) entered into a licensing agreement with Volpone Stamp Company, Inc. (Volpone) (defendant) through Ryan’s agent, Mattgo Enterprises, Inc. (Mattgo). The agreement granted Volpone exclusive rights to manufacture, sell, and sublicense various products bearing Ryan’s image, name, and facsimile signature. In exchange, Volpone agreed to pay royalties to Ryan, including certain minimum royalty payments. In the event of a failure to pay royalties, Volpone would have 60 days to cure its default, after which the agreement would terminate and the licensing rights revert to Mattgo. Believing that Ryan and Mattgo had breached the exclusivity terms of the agreement, Volpone stopped payment on certain royalty checks. Ryan notified Volpone that Volpone was in default, and the agreement was terminated. However, Volpone disregarded the termination letter and continued to manufacture and distribute Nolan Ryan merchandise. Alleging that Volpone had violated his right of publicity, Ryan sought a preliminary injunction barring Volpone from marketing Nolan Ryan merchandise.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Haight, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.