Successfully represented the heirs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. against CBS Broadcasting Inc. in a highly publicized case before the Eleventh Circuit. The decision upheld the validity of the copyright of the famous “I Have A Dream” speech against a challenge that it had entered the public domain. Following briefing and oral argument, the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court’s finding that Dr. King’s copyright in the speech “I Have A Dream” was forfeited when delivered in 1963 at the March on Washington and remanded the case for trial. CBS thereafter agreed to a settlement of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Estate’s claim that CBS infringed copyrights when it used portions of the speech in a documentary by Mike Wallace.
Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc., 194 F.3d 1211 (11th Cir. 1999), reh. denied, 207 F.3d 666 (11th Cir. 2000).
