Detroit, MI – Jewish University Suing GM for Unauthorized Use of Einstein’s Image

Detroit, MI – A Jewish university that owns Albert Einstein’s publicity rights is suing General Motors Co. for the unauthorized use of the dead physicist’s image in an ad for its GMC Terrain.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem sued GM in U.S. District Court in California on May 19 for more than $75,000, accusing the automaker of fraudulently using Einstein’s image. Einstein willed his publicity rights to the university before he died in 1955.

It is the latest advertising controversy facing GM, which has struggled to perfect its marketing pitch since emerging last summer from bankruptcy court. Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre has been accused of stretching the truth in a recent commercial saying the automaker had repaid its federal loans, and its marketing team has undergone a management and creative agency shakeup in recent weeks. This month, GM has hired a new marketing guru and a new ad agency for its largest brand, Chevrolet.

“It may be GM thought, ‘Oh, he died and the rights are all public domain now,’ ” said John T. Brooks, a partner with Chicago law firm Foley & Lardner LLP who specializes in estates and trusts. “It’s old and cold and nobody’s got rights to it.”

GM purchased the right to use the Einstein image in the ad from a “reputable firm,” the automaker’s spokeswoman, Ryndee Carney, said today. The firm guarantees clients it has the rights to use the images, she added.

She would not identify the firm but said the ad, which ran in People magazine’s issue last September, was produced by GMC’s advertising agency Leo Burnett.

“The ad ran just once for that specific issue,” Carney said.

The lawsuit illustrates the lengths to which celebrity estates will go to defend lucrative profits. Einstein’s estate grossed $10 million last year, making the late physicist one of the top earning dead celebrities.

Einstein, whose name and image has been licensed for use in McDonald’s Happy Meals and the popular Baby Einstein products, ranked ninth between authors Dr. Seuss ($15 million) and Michael Crichton ($9 million), according to Forbes.com.

The four-page ad in question ran in People magazine last fall and featured the dead physicist’s head superimposed on a half-nude underwear model with an “E=MC2” tattoo.

The Terrain crossover sport-utility vehicle is one of several new products fueling a rebound in sales of GM’s Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands, which rose 19.7 percent last month compared to a year earlier. GM also posted an $865 million first-quarter profit — its first in almost three years.

“I suppose you could make a business decision that you can make so much money that you can withstand a lawsuit that would tell them to stop and fine them something,” Brooks said. “It wouldn’t be the first time a corporation has done something thinking they might pay the price for it, but it’s worth it.”

The Einstein case isn’t the first time GM has been sued by a celebrity for using their likeness in ads. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sued General Motors Corp. for $2 million in 2005 for using his likeness in an ad after his contract with the automaker had expired.