First Amendment Rights and Art
Artist Daniel A. Moore's Legal Battle with University of Alabama
Sports artist and University of Alabama alumni Daniel A. Moore was sued three years ago by U. of Alabama, which claims he has no right to paint the Crimson Tide.
Daniel Moore is a sports artist who creates original oil paintings of famous football and sports highlights and sells his artwork reproduced on prints, mugs and calendars. Three years ago, Moore was sued by the University of Alabama for intellectual property infringement. This case is still unresolved.
There are many ironies here. First of all, Daniel A. Moore is an alumnus of the University of Alabama; he has two daughters currently attending Alabama and a third daughter who has already graduated. (Sounds like the Alumni Relations Department at Alabama is pretty cold.)
While it is true that Mr. Moore has made in the low millions over the years of his career, his paintings are original oils or watercolors based on photos of the sporting event. From the artist’s point of view, this battle in the court is over First Amendment rights. As Daniel Moore says, “The artists who painted on cave walls were the very first journalists and there are thousands, perhaps millions, of other historical paintings and artwork.”
Can you imagine Brillo soap pads or Campbell’s Soup suing Andy Warhol? Should Bass Beer have sued Eduard Manet for copyright infringement for his use of the Bass logo on the bottle on the bar? Of course not. Campbell’s, Brillo and Bass brands all understood the value of being immortalized by a skilled artist.
What the University of Alabama is missing here is that Daniel A. Moore is adding to the value of their sports team brand by interpreting it artistically. Moore advertises the football team’s colors, the Crimson Tide, and promotes them by successfully creating and marketing his original artwork of the University of Alabama sports team as well as others. As a successful alumnus, he also increases the value of his alma mater through his work.
What this 2006 New York Times article fails to mention about this case is the fact that football is a huge part of the culture in Alabama, it is almost a religion. For an institution of higher education to take to suing one of its own shows that they have lost sight of the benefit of artistic interpretation because of the value of their own inflated egos. The artist elevates the brand of the University of Alabama, he does not denigrate it and this is a mututally beneficial relationship.
The fact that this case has been tied up in court for three years highlights the lack of understanding that we have as a culture of artists and their roles in our society. Since both sides have filed for summary judgement, let’s hope there is closure to this ridiculous lawsuit soon. In the meantime, check out the sports art of Daniel A. Moore at New Life Art here.
