• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 3, 2012

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel had the right to incorporate YouTube footage of “Flying Rabbi” Daniel Edward Sondik into an on-air skit, a Brooklyn judge has ruled.

In a ruling issued last month, state court judge David Schmidt dismissed Sondik's lawsuit, which accused Kimmel of misappropriation. Schmidt ruled that Kimmel had a free speech right to use images of Sondik that were available online.

The dispute dates to August of 2010, when Kimmel used a clip of Sondik in order to poke fun at basketball player LeBron James. Earlier that week, the gossip site TMZ reported that the basketball star had tapped Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto for business advice.

Kimmel said on the air that he, too, had turned to Pinto for advice. Kimmel then showed images of himself spliced with YouTube clips of Sondik, the so-called Flying Rabbi. Sondik -- who isn't really a rabbi, according to the New York Post -- is featured in several YouTube clips showing him speaking Yiddish while gesturing dramatically on the streets of Brooklyn.

Sondik responded by filing suit against Kimmel and ABC. Sondik argued that the talk show host had taken Sondik's words out of context in order to turn them “into the butt of a joke,” which had “the general effect of making [him] look foolish and presenting him as a laughingstock.”

The Brooklyn man argued that the skit violated his right to control the use of his image for commercial purposes.

A New York law provides that people can sue if their name or image is used for commercial purposes without permission, but not if the use occurs in conjunction with a newsworthy event. Schmidt found that Kimmel's use of footage of Sondik was protected because the skit centered on a newsworthy matter -- Lebron James' meeting with Pinto.

Schmidt also ruled that Kimmel had a free speech right to use the footage. “There is no allegation in the complaint ... suggesting that the use of plaintiff's clip was mean-spirited or intended to injure such that its use would be excluded from First Amendment protection.”

Sondik's lawyer, Robert Tolchin, says he plans to appeal the ruling.