CLEARWATER — In the final years of daredevil Robert “Evel” Knievel’s life, his daring stunts were featured in cable shows on Country Music Television Inc., MTV Inc. and Spike TV, using a $69,000 licensing agreement procured from Knievel himself.
Knievel, however, didn’t own the rights he licensed to the cable channels, a Cleveland steel industrialist claims. Instead, Knievel sold the rights to the film and photographs of his stunts from the 1970s and 1980s as well as his life story to Raymond Schreiber in 1982 for $1 million, an agreement that could result in court trips for nearly a dozen people for violating copyrights they may not have known were owned by someone else.
Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA.B, VNV, VIA), the parent of the cable channels that aired the specials, sued Krystal Kennedy-Knievel, the daredevil’s widow, and his estate for at least $250,000 last month claiming breach of contract in Pinellas County Circuit Court. That move follows a lawsuit Schreiber filed against Viacom in the U.S. District Court’s Central District of California last June for copyright infringement.
Innocent bystanders could be affected
“We’re realistically trying to get money back that has already been spent,” said Matthew Girardi of the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Girardi Firm, who is representing Schreiber in the Los Angeles case. “A couple of people who heard parts of this story just look at me with their mouths hanging open when they see the stuff in this lawsuit. I think someday a film about Evel Knievel is going to be dwarfed by the film about the [copyright legal battle] of Evel Knievel.”
Both the Pinellas County and California cases are awaiting the results of a 2005 lawsuit filed by Schreiber in Nevada that asked the circuit court there to determine who actually owns the rights to material Schreiber says is his. Once a judge determines that later next year, not only will the two other cases move forward, but more could follow in other parts of the country where copyright violations may have occurred, Girardi said.
It’s unknown if those involved knew Knievel’s ownership to those rights were being challenged, but they could be pulled into court anyway.
“Unfortunately, private contracts are not recorded anywhere, and whenever you buy something like that, you have to count on the good faith of the seller,” said Suzy Marteny, an intellectual property attorney with Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP in Tampa. “There is a measure of due diligence you should go through if you’re a buyer, but sometimes there are things you just can’t find out.”
Knievel died in November 2007. Kennedy-Knievel said she could not comment on pending litigation.
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