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To impersonate known person’s voice is to pirate the identity of such person

Ford Motor Company and its advertising agency, Young & Rubicam, Inc., in 1985 advertised the Ford Lincoln Mercury with a series of nineteen 30 or 60 second television commercials in what the agency called “The Yuppie Campaign.” The aim was to make an emotional connection with Yuppies, bringing back memories of when they were in college.

Different popular songs of the seventies were sung on each commercial. The agency tried to get “the original people,” that is, the singers who had popularized the songs, to sing them. Failing in that endeavor in ten cases the agency had the songs sung by “sound alikes.” Bette Midler was done by a sound alike.

When Young & Rubicam was preparing the Yuppie Campaign it presented the commercial to its client by playing an edited version of Midler singing “Do You Want To Dance,” taken from the 1973 Midler album, “The Divine Miss M.” After the client accepted the idea and form of the commercial, the agency contacted Midler’s manager, Jerry Edelstein. Midler’s side was not interested in. Undeterred, Young & Rubicam sought out Ula Hedwig whom it knew to have been one of “the Harlettes” a backup singer for Midler for ten years. She was asked to make a “demo” tape of the song if she was interested. She made an a capella demo and got the job.

At the direction of Young & Rubicam, Hedwig then made a record for the commercial. The Midler record of “Do You Want To Dance” was first played to her. She was told to “sound as much as possible like the Bette Midler record,” leaving out only a few “aahs” unsuitable for the commercial. Hedwig imitated Midler to the best of her ability. After the commercial was aired Midler was told by “a number of people” that it “sounded exactly” like her record of “Do You Want To Dance.” Neither the name nor the picture of Midler was used in the commercial; Young & Rubicam had a license from the copyright holder to use the song.

At issue in case is only the protection of Midler’s voice. The district court described the defendants’ conduct as that “of the average thief.” They decided, “If we can’t buy it, we’ll take it.” The court nonetheless believed there was no legal principle preventing imitation of Midler’s voice and so gave summary judgment for the defendants. Midler appealed.

The First Amendment protects much of what the media do in the reproduction of likenesses or sounds. A primary value is freedom of speech and press. The purpose of the media’s use of a person’s identity is central. If the purpose is “informative or cultural” the use is immune; “if it serves no such function but merely exploits the individual portrayed, immunity will not be granted.” “Mere imitation of a recorded performance would not constitute a copyright infringement even where one performer deliberately sets out to simulate another’s performance as exactly as possible.”

Nancy Sinatra once sued Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company on the basis of an advertising campaign by Young & Rubicam featuring “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’,” a song closely identified with her; the female singers of the commercial were alleged to have imitated her voice and style and to have dressed and looked like her. The basis of Nancy Sinatra’s complaint was unfair competition; she claimed that the song and the arrangement had acquired “a secondary meaning” which, under California law, was protectable. The court noted that the defendants “had paid a very substantial sum to the copyright proprietor to obtain the license for the use of the song and all of its arrangements.” To give Sinatra damages for their use of the song would clash with federal copyright law. Summary judgment for the defendants was affirmed.

If Midler were claiming a secondary meaning to “Do You Want To Dance” or seeking to prevent the defendants from using that song, she would fail like Sinatra. But Midler did not seek damages for Ford’s use of “Do You Want To Dance,” and thus her claim was not preempted by federal copyright law. Copyright protects “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” A voice is not copyrightable. The sounds are not “fixed.” What was put forward as protectable there is more personal than any work of authorship.

Bert Lahr once sued Adell Chemical Co. for selling Lestoil by means of a commercial in which an imitation of Lahr’s voice accompanied a cartoon of a duck. Lahr alleged that his style of vocal delivery was distinctive in pitch, accent, inflection, and sounds. The First Circuit held that Lahr had stated a cause of action for unfair competition, that it could be found “that defendant’s conduct saturated plaintiff’s audience, curtailing his market.” That case is more like this one. But the court did not find unfair competition in Midler’s case. One-minute commercials of the sort the defendants put on would not have saturated Midler’s audience and curtailed her market. Midler did not do television commercials. The defendants were not in competition with her.

A voice is as distinctive and personal as a face. The human voice is one of the most palpable ways identity is manifested. A friend is at once known by a few words on the phone. The singer (Midler) manifests herself in the song. To impersonate her voice is to pirate her identity. The court did not go too far as to hold that every imitation of a voice to advertise merchandise is actionable. The court held only that when a distinctive voice of a professional singer is widely known and is deliberately imitated in order to sell a product, the sellers have appropriated what is not theirs and have committed a tort in California. Midler has made a showing, sufficient to defeat summary judgment, that the defendants for their own profit in selling their product did appropriate part of her identity.