ESPN Sued Over Use of Rockwell Painting

The owner of Norman Rockwell's "Bottom of the 6th" — showing three umpires looking skyward as first raindrops fall — is steaming over the use of the classic illustration in the television series "The Bronx Is Burning."

Curtis Publishing Co. has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking to stop ESPN Inc. from rebroadcasting the series about the 1977 New York Yankees until it withdraws use of the painting.

Curtis sent an e-mail to ESPN lawyers notifying them that ESPN did not have a license to use the painting and was committing willful copyright infringement, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims Curtis will suffer damage to its business, including loss of its reputation for exclusive ownership of its copyrighted catalog of illustrations.

According to the court papers, Curtis was notified in mid-July that "Bottom of the 6th" was shown full-screen in the second episode of the series, titled "Team in Turmoil." Since then, the series has been sold in DVD and VHS format, the lawsuit says.

Lawyers for ESPN, which first aired the eight-part series last summer, did not immediately return telephone calls for comment. An ESPN spokeswoman, Colleen Lynch, said she could not immediately comment on the lawsuit, which was filed April 22.