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Paramount Settles "Cheers" Bar Brawl
A settlement has been reached between Paramount Pictures and erstwhile Cheers barflies George Wendt and John Ratzenberger.
The agreement, terms of which were not revealed, settled a long-running right-of-publicity lawsuit over the actors' alleged robotic dopplegangers. The suit was first filed by the two actors in 1993, shortly before the hit sitcom, based in a Boston bar, ended its 11-year stint on NBC.
Wendt and Ratzenberger claimed the creation of animatronic figures that were plonked down on stools at the end of the counter in Cheers-themed airport bars were just too similar to the flesh-and-blood thespians.
The two robots were named Hank and Bob. But don't let that fool you. They looked suspiciously like Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin--one was a fat ale-swiller, the other, an a edgy know-all in a mailman's uniform. They were programmed to talk and move when human customers sat down next to them.
This didn't sit well with the two stars, who cited a California law stating that people have exclusive control over the for-profit use of their likenesses or voices and that these robotic lookalikes had been created without their consent. In defense, Paramount, which owns the intellectual property right to the sitcom, argued that federal copyright laws allowed creation of derivative products.
Over the years, the case shunted back and forth between federal and appellate courts, was thrown out, then reinstated--covering more ground than Norm, who rarely left his barstool, or Cliff, who rarely walked his postal beat. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, letting stand an earlier federal ruling which reinstated the suit.
Paramount attorney, William Rintala, and the actors' lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, did not return calls seeking comment.
How big a tab Norm can now afford to pay is not known. But we're guessing that actors in general--concerned that their image linked to character may be used for profit without their consent--are probably raising glasses at the settlement news, toasting Norm and Cliff for stepping up to the bar.
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