The Blind Side: Fact or Copyrightable?

I came across a New York Times Daily podcast about the movie “The Blind Side” that reminded me of a discussion from class a few weeks ago. The podcast (and the NYT article it is based on) provides the perspective of Michael Oher, whose “story” is told in “The Blind Side”. Currently, Oher is pursuing a lawsuit against the Tuohys, the wealthy couple that took him in during his final year of high school. Oher claims that “the Tuohys have exploited him by using his name, image and likeness to promote speaking engagements that have earned them roughly $8 million over the last two decades”.

I believe that using someone’s name and likeness is more so a privacy issue, but the royalties from the movie and book presumably relate to copyright. Since the movie is a dramatization of a book that was based on the Tuohys’ perspective, I think whether or not Oher’s copyright was infringed depends on how much of his story was embellished. However, I wonder whether the claim would fail (in Canada) since there is a lack of fixation when it comes to Oher’s story. Additionally, since the story is told from the Tuohys’ perspective and they have the right to tell their own story, it raises the question of whether Oher’s copyright was infringed on (and this appears to be what the Tuohys are arguing).

I think it’ll be interesting to see what the court ends up deciding! It sounds like the trial might not happen till next year.

Link to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sunday-read-the-blind-side-made-him-famous-but-he/id1200361736?i=1000671947438

Link to the NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/magazine/blind-side-michael-oher.html