MARCH 23, 2012 – In a precedent-setting case involving the image of Albert Einstein, the world’s most famous and recognizable scientist, Arent Fox announced today a major victory for The Hebrew University of Jerusalem after a federal judge in California ruled that the Israeli university’s right of publicity lawsuit against General Motors LLC (GM) could move forward.

As reported in Law360 , Judge A. Howard Matz of the US District Court for the Central District of California in a 25-page opinion “refused to dismiss an Israeli university's lawsuit over General Motors LLC's use of Albert Einstein's image in magazine advertisements, ruling that the school might have inherited the famed physicist's publicity rights.”

The university’s lawsuit was filed in 2010 after GM ran a four-page advertisement featuring Einstein's face superimposed on a shirtless underwear model. The carmaker’s ad ran in People magazine's “2009 Sexiest Man Alive” issue under the slogan "Ideas Are Sexy Too."

In denying GM’s motion for a summary defense judgment, Judge Matz write, "Although there is no genuine dispute about what the will and trust do not say, there is a genuine dispute concerning whether Einstein would have intended his right of publicity and trademark rights to be included in the trust.”

The court also rejected GM's argument that Einstein had no post-mortem publicity rights to grant the university. 

The Arent Fox team representing The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was led by partners Anthony Lupo, Robert C. O'Brien, and Roy Silva.

To read the court’s opinion in The Hebrew University of Jerusalem v. General Motors LLC, please click here.

To read Law360’s article covering the decision, please click here.