## Facts

- Entities associated with Janis Joplin’s estate and intellectual-property interests sued producers and a venue involved in staging a two-act theatrical production titled *Janis*.
- Act I fictionally portrayed Joplin’s experiences over a day leading up to a concert and included minimal music; for pleading purposes, defendants conceded Act II simulated an evening concert performance by Joplin.
- Plaintiffs demanded the production cease and then sued, asserting (among other theories) infringement of Joplin’s postmortem right of publicity, relying on California law based on Joplin’s domicile at death.
- Defendants sought a declaration that the play was not subject to state-law proprietary protections aimed at commercial advertising or merchandise uses of names and likenesses.
- Defendants asserted Sherman Act counterclaims, alleging plaintiffs attempted to monopolize a purported market for portrayals of female rock and blues vocalists.
- The court decided the parties’ competing motions on the pleadings, without trial.

## Issues

1. Under applicable choice-of-law rules, which state’s law governed the asserted postmortem right of publicity?
2. Under California’s postmortem right-of-publicity statute, can a biographical play (including a simulated concert performance) create liability, or is it exempt as an expressive work?
3. If Washington law applied, would it recognize a comparable postmortem right of publicity applicable to the play?
4. Whether defendants stated Sherman Act claims by plausibly alleging a relevant antitrust market and anticompetitive conduct.

## Decision

- The court granted defendants’ motion for partial judgment on the pleadings and dismissed plaintiffs’ right-of-publicity claim.
- The court granted defendants declaratory relief that the play was not subject to state-law publicity-right protections directed at commercial advertising/merchandise-type uses.
- The court granted plaintiffs’ motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissed defendants’ antitrust counterclaims.

## Legal Principles

- In a postmortem right-of-publicity dispute, the governing law may be determined by the state with the most significant relationship to the asserted personality right, including the decedent’s domicile at death.
- California’s statutory postmortem publicity right targets unauthorized commercial exploitation in advertising and merchandising contexts and contains exemptions for expressive works, including plays.
- A court may treat a multi-part theatrical production as a single integrated expressive work for purposes of an expressive-work exemption, rather than isolating segments for separate publicity-right analysis.
- Antitrust claims require a plausible relevant market consisting of reasonably interchangeable substitutes; hyper-narrow markets defined around a single type of portrayal or entertainment product are insufficient.

## Conclusion

The court held that a biographical theatrical production portraying Janis Joplin, including a simulated concert component, fell within statutory protections for expressive works and therefore did not infringe a postmortem right of publicity; it also rejected defendants’ Sherman Act counterclaims because the alleged market was implausibly narrow and did not satisfy relevant-market pleading requirements.


Joplin Enters. v. Allen, 795 F. Supp. 349 (W.D. Wash. 1992)