Do Not Mess with Michael Jordan and His Right of Publicity

By Lee S. Brenner and Andreas Becker, of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP   After Michael Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September of 2009, Sports Illustrated ran a special issue to commemorate Jordan’s achievement and celebrate his career. The issue was to be sold in stores, rather than through subscriptions, and certain stores were offered space in the issue in exchange for offering copies of the magazine for sale. In turn, Chicago-area grocery store chains Jewel-Osco a