Michigan State University Sued Over Alleged Illegal Use of Trivia Questions at Football Game
In August 2024, Carilius Media ("Carilius"), a small Dutch media company based in Colombia, filed a lawsuit against Michigan State University ("MSU") for allegedly infringing its copyright in a YouTube video containing quiz questions. MSU allegedly played this video for their entire audience during a football game with their rival, the University of Michigan.
Beyond simple copyright infringement, Carilius is also suing for invasion of privacy, specifically False Light. False Light is a claim that someone has falsely portrayed you in a negative way. Reportedly, one of the quiz questions in the video was about the birthplace of Adolf Hitler and was accompanied by a photograph of Hitler. This football game took place several days after the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, and many people in the crowd thought it was in bad taste for MSU to show that question at the game, and there was social media backlash over the question. MSU publicly responded that they were not responsible for the content of the quiz, and allegedly implied that Carilius "sympathized and/or supported Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, or, at the very least, were unconcerned about same." Carilius claims this negative press coverage has damaged his reputation, and put in jeopardy a $135,000 contract that was in place before the incident.
Carilius is asking for $150,000 in the form of a statutory civil fine for copyright infringement, as well as an awarding of attorney's fees. The Complaint requests a trial by jury. MSU has not yet filed their answer to the Complaint.
We will report on this case when further updates are available.