e, Wheelof Fortune letter-turner extraordinaire; the offending robotstood next to a letter board, decked out in a blonde wig,Vanna-style gown and garish jewelry. Dissenting from ourfailure to take the case en banc, I argued that our broad appli-cation of the right of publicity put state law on a collisioncourse with the federal rights of the copyright holder. See 989F.2d 1512, 1517-18 (9th Cir. 1993).The conflict in White was hypothetical, since the defendant(Samsung) did not have a license from the Wheel of Fortunecopyright holder. Here it is concrete: The panel holds thatlicensed animatronic figures based on the copyrighted Cheerscharacters Norm and Cliff infringe on the rights of the actorswho portrayed them. As I predicted, White's voracious logicswallows up rights conferred by Congress under the Copy- 14902right Act.IThough a bit dated now, Cheers remains near and dear tothe hearts of many TV viewers. Set in a friendly neighbor-hood bar in Boston, the show revolved around a familiarscene. Sam, the owner and bartender, entertained the boyswith tales of his glory days pitching for the Red Sox. Coachpiped in with sincere, obtuse advice. Diane and Frasier chat-tered self-importantly about Lord Byron. Carla terrorizedpatrons with acerbic comments. And there were Norm andCliff, the two characters at issue here. Norm, a fat, endearing,oft-unemployed1 accountant, parked himself at the corner ofthe bar, where he was joined by Cliff, a dweebish 2 mailmanand something of a know-it-all windbag.3 After eleven yearson the air, the gang at Cheers became like family to manyfans, ensuring many more years in syndication. See GebeMartinez, "Cheers" Fans Cry in Their Beers as Sitcom EndsLong Run, L.A. Times, May 21, 1993, at B1.Defendant Host International decided to tap into this keg ofgoodwill. After securing a license from Paramount, the copy-right holder, Host opened a line of Cheers airport bars. Tohelp get patrons ...
