Acclaimed film director Quentin Tarantino is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court. The late actor Christopher Jones’s partner has lodged a petition accusing Tarantino of unauthorised use of Jones’s name and persona in the 2019 film “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”. The petitioner is seeking to overturn the previous dismissal of trademark claims. The earlier decision was handed down in compliance with the Californian anti-SLAPP law, a statute put in place to prevent legal disputes aimed at stifling freedom of speech.
Upon reviewing this case, the implications could be far-reaching for the entertainment industry, potentially setting new precedents for the use of real-world personas within a fictional context. The balance between the right to free expression and protection of individual trademarks will be key issues for the Court to consider.
For the details of this important legal dispute, you can review the petition directly on
Law360.