The court doesn’t call it fair use, but fundamentally the appearance of a Gottlieb pinball machine in a few minutes of a movie is fair use, IMHO, under principles of both copyright and trademark law. And plaintiff’s argument that its product’s appearance in a movie starring noted anti-Semite Mel Gibson could harm its business reputation? Don’t embarrass yourselves, okay?
And yes, this is a topic I’ve written about before and will no doubt write about again.
H/t Marty
(You can play the game too – I copied this image from Wikipedia. I’m using it not to suggest sponsorship or affiliation by The Who, but rather to illustrate the term pinball referenced above, in a way that will have “Pinball Wizard” running through your brain for the rest of the day. Oops – I’ve discussed this concept before as well!)