SiriusXM Beats Suit Over Old ‘Howard Stern Show’ Bits (Correct)

“Stuttering John” Melendez’s claim that SiriusXM Radio Inc. violated his right of publicity under California law by using outtakes from his old bits on “The Howard Stern Show” to promote rebroadcasts is preempted by the Copyright Act, a federal court in Manhattan.

John Melendez, known as Stuttering John, did his performances on the Stern radio show from 1988 to 2004 and over 13,000 hours of episodes feature his comedy. Sirius now owns the rights to the shows and rebroadcasts them on two different channels.

Melendez, in order to assert a violation of his right of publicity, had to plead that ...