John Krieger Quoted in Bloomberg Law on Hamilton Exhibit Copyright Case

John Krieger (Member, Las Vegas) spoke with Bloomberg Law about copyright issues arising from the Hamilton: the Exhibit, a biographical museum exhibition based on the life of Alexander Hamilton for an article titled “Hamilton Spat Shows Challenge in Carving Copyrights From History.” The exhibit is the creation of the producers of Hamilton, the historical Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton’s life and the formation of the United States of America, working under the name Hamilton Exhibition LLC. During the exhibit’s development, Hamilton Exhibition was working with Imagine Exhibitions Inc. (IEI) Hamilton Exhibition went on to produce the exhibit when the relationship went sour, suing IEI for breach of contract. IEI countersued, contending that it was abruptly and unjustly terminated, and that Hamilton Exhibition had infringed its copyrights with its final product. IEI faced an uphill battle to demonstrate that Hamilton Exhibition infringed the arrangement of factual information, along with how it was represented, because facts can’t be copyrighted.

“Whenever you’re dealing with things like this, it’s really important to distinguish between the story and the facts,” John said. “Whenever you’re dealing with a case involving historical references or facts, make sure you’re being critical in your analysis.”