An online quiz company is suing Michigan State University (MSU) after the school blasted a picture of Adolf Hitler on its video board before a football game against University of Michigan last fall.
The image was displayed on the scoreboard during a trivia question about the German dictator's birthplace. It appeared to match a clip shared a week earlier on The Quiz Channel, a popular YouTube trivia channel.
The incident at Spartan Stadium occurred on Oct. 21 — two weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel — and garnered international attention after spectators posted pictures on social media.
Netherlands-based Quiz Channel operator Carsilius Media and owner Floris van Pallandt filed the lawsuit in Grand Rapids federal court Friday. It accuses MSU of copyright infringement and invasion of privacy.
According to court documents, van Pallandt said MSU "knowingly and illegally infringed on the copyright," and if the school had reached out to him, "he could have put together a customized quiz appropriate for the venue and event."
After the incident went viral, MSU released a statement, saying, "This is not representative of our institutional values. MSU will not be using the third-party source going forward and will implement stronger screening and approval procedures for all video board content in the future."
In response to the apology, van Pallandt accused MSU of falsely blaming "a third-party source" for its "inappropriate content" and not accepting its own role in the incident.
The lawsuit states, "At the time Michigan State officials made this announcement, which was widely reported in the news media, they were aware that Michigan State University staff members had used [The Quiz Channel's] intellectual property without proper permission, and had, in fact, infringed on their rights."
It continues, "At a minimum, this attempt to deflect blame is dishonest by omitting any comments about Michigan State's role in this fiasco."
Van Pallandt is seeking actual damages, to be determined at trial, or a civil fine of $150,000 for the "willful infringement of copyright."
MSU lost the game 49-0.
Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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