Michigan State is being sued for copyright infringement after showing a picture of Hitler on its scoreboard before a college football game last season. That is a real sentence that reflects real events.
The Spartans are aware of the lawsuit but will not issue comment.
This saga began on October 21, prior to an in-state rivalry matchup between Michigan State and Michigan in East Lansing. An image of Adolf Hitler appeared on the jumbotron with just over an hour until kickoff. Without any context, it was bizarre and offensive.
What’s up with @MSU_Football putting Hitler on the scoreboard during a pre game trivia game. Just wrong. pic.twitter.com/ZKeYIirAIL
— Jeff Kowalsky (@JeffKowalsky) October 21, 2023
With context, it was a little bit less strange but still offensive.
As both teams took the field for warmups, a video intended to keep fans entertained played on the scoreboard. It was a pretty standard quiz game, much like the ones that air in the movie theater before the trailers or on an iPad screen in the backseat of an taxi.
On the same day that a Detroit synagogue president was found fatally stabbed outside her home, the quiz asked an out-of-context question about the birthplace of Hitler. When the video revealed the answer, a large image of the Nazi dictator displayed on the screen for a few moments.
A college football team should not have a picture of Hitler on its scoreboard in any context, period.
The Spartans were were forced to issue a statement after a photo of the scoreboard went viral online. Matt Larson, the associate athletic director of communications, apologized first and foremost. He then proceeded to pass the blame, saying that it was a “third-party source.”
The video was first posted by ‘The Quiz Channel‘ on YouTube seven days prior.
An employee ripped the video from YouTube without vetting its questions (and/or imagery). It aired on the scoreboard without approval.
Michigan State is being sued.
Carsilius Media and its owner, Floris van Pallandt, filed a two-count lawsuit in federal court on Friday for unauthorized use of their trivia game. According to Sarah Atwood of the Lansing State Journal, the legal filing claims “the university engaged in compy right infringement and invasion of privacy – false light.”
The university’s board of “regents” is listed as the defendants.
Van Pallandt accuses Michigan State of placing false blame on his company for the insulting imagery. The Spartans were not previously authorized to use the video so the lawsuit claims it is entirely their fault.
Once this story became national and international news, Michigan State University’s first response was to attempt to place the blame on Plaintiffs, stating that the use of Hitler in the quiz was the fault of the company who created the quiz.
— Carsilius Media’s lawsuit
Van Pallandt is asking one of two things:
- Actual damages, to be determined at a trial.
- A civil fine of $150,000 for the “willful infringement of copyright.”
He also wants to ensure that Michigan State will be disallowed from any future use of The Quiz Channel’s content. In addition, he is asking the university to pay his attorney’s fees and any additional costs occurred from the legal action.