Re: "Judge rules artist Daniel Moore needs no University of Alabama license for paint
I agree with the points made in BamainBoston's first post. Lawyers and pride got involved with a situation that escalated to litigation.
If there were a greed issue, it was from Moore. He chose to quit honoring his working arrangment with the University's licensing program after he got famous and had a following. Don't kid yourself...University football is a hell of a lot bigger than Moore and Moore might be doing coloring books if he had not gotten his start through doing Crimson Tide football paintings. If you think his artwork doesn't portray Crimson Tide football, then explain to me why he markets his work to Crimson Tide fans? If he only wanted to portray a football team wearing Crimson and White, why did he agree and honor the licensing arrangment with the University to start with? I enjoy Moore's work and support his First Amendment rights. However, his First Amendment argument only became an issue after he wanted to quit honoring the small percentage he was paying the University for the right to do the paintings and use them on coffee cups, mousepads and calendars. In my opinion marketing those items wasn't about First Amendment rights or artwork but about Daniel Moore's greed to make more money. Moore should have honored and paid the University the small percentage through the licensing program set up through Bill Battle by Coach Bryant like everybody else has honored. This ruling will probably cost the University millions of dollars in future unrelated licensing agreements. I don't find that anything to celebrate.
Addressing a totally different subject....Reserved spaces on the Quad for tailgating aren't about making money but controlling the gameday experience. Burying the necessary electricity for tailgaters, liability insurance, and the cleanup cost the University a lot of money. Furthermore the University has a right to protect the millions of dollars invested in campus beauty and not let it be destroyed by a bunch of drunk visiting fans. Does anybody remember the Georgia game a few years ago when they left literally tons of trash on the Quad? (Georgia's fans dumped 75 tons on their own campus a couple of weeks ago requiring the university president to ask fans not to be so destructive while tailgating on campus. Things are completely out of control over there.) If you don't remember the last Georgia game here in Tuscaloosa, it was the last game the University (at their expense) set up large tv screens for fans to watch the game on the Quad. The idea had been to invite families who might not be able to afford season tickets to come to Tuscaloosa and enjoy the game day experience. There were actually plans to set up a total of 4 huge tv screens for fans. There certainly was no greed involved.
Can you imagine what would happen this weekend if 5,000 drunk LSU fans showed up Thursday morning to take over the Quad? All hell would break loose when the Alabama fans showed up Friday and Saturday to find the place overrun by LSU fans. If you come to the game this weekend take a look at some of the places the LSU will tailgate. They will try to take over everything on University Blvd. A couple of years ago I actually saw visiting fans drive on to the Quad and walk to the game. I know there are a lot of people who don't care for the Bruno's Event Team gameday management, but Tuscaloosa and the University aren't equipped to have 100,000 visitors show up on campus without some form of crowd/traffic managment. It isn't about greed. It is about providing a safe, enjoyable gameday experience and getting people in and out of town in a controlled manner.
