Television Academy Sues to Block Sale of Whitney Houston’s 1986 Emmy

The Television Academy has filed a lawsuit in order to block the sale of Whitney Houston’s Emmy award.

According to the website, the Academy claims Heritage can’t put the statuette, which it’s selling on behalf of the Houston family, up for auction because all Emmy winners sign an agreement stating their heirs must “return the statuette to the Academy,” where it is held “in storage in memory of the recipient.”

The statuette is currently listed on Heritage Auctions’ website and will go under the hammer on June 24 with a starting bid of $10,000.

“When the Television Academy honors an artist for an achievement, it lends a copy of the Emmy Statuette to the artist to signify and symbolize the honor,” the Academy explained. When an honoree dies, the artist’s heirs and successors are allowed “to retain custody of copies to symbolize the achievements of the deceased honoree.”

However, the organization continued, “The Television Academy has never intended that the Emmy Statuette copies be treated as articles of trade. The original statuette is registered under the copyright laws as an ‘unpublished’ work of art: copies of the statuette are not, and never have been, offered for sale or given to the general public.”

In response, Heritage Auctions president Greg Rohan told TheWrap, “The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences claims that at the time Ms. Houston received that Emmy statuette she signed an agreement that it would not be sold. We have asked the Academy multiple times to produce that signed agreement but still have not received it.”

“Why is the Academy now demanding return of Houston’s Emmy when they did not stop over three dozen earlier public auctions of Emmy awards the past decade? Based on their behavior thus far, we think the Academy is simply trying to bully the Houston family, and we’re going to stand up for our consignor, regardless of the cost,” Rohan added. “In addition, Heritage Auctions will donate our entire commission earned on the sale of the Emmy to a charity of the Houston family’s choice.”

Aside from attempting to prevent the auction, the Television Academy is suing for copyright infringement and seeking unspecified damages.

Agencies/Canadajournal