Amazon

Professional mountain bike rider Missy Giove assigned publicity rights in her name and likeness to Plaintiff Amazon, Inc. ("Amazon"), a Colorado corporation with its principal place of business in New York. Defendant Cannondale Corp. ("Cannondale"), a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Connecticut, manufactures and sells high performance bicycles and equipment. Since 1994, Cannondale has co-sponsored a mountain bike team, of which Ms. Giove was a member from 1994 to 1998. Team Sports Mountain, Inc. (TSMI), formerly a defendant in this action, owned the team during all relevant times in this dispute. A contract between Amazon and TSMI provided that TSMI could use Ms. Giove's likeness for publicity. The contract further provided that team sponsors' use of Ms. Giove's likeness was limited to the term of the TSMI/Amazon contract. TSMI in turn licensed Cannondale, as a team sponsor, use of the publicity rights.