Quiz company sues Michigan State University over Adolf Hitler display on video board during football game

EAST LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — The Michigan State University Board of Regents is facing a federal lawsuit over Adolf Hitler’s appearance in a pregame quiz on video boards during a football game last year.

Carsilius Media, BV, a company that operates The Quiz Channel on YouTube and generates custom quizzes for businesses, filed the suit last week, seeking at least $150,000 in damages. The company claimed the university used one of its quizzes without permission, during an Oct. 21, 2023, game against the Michigan Wolverines and was “dishonest” when it blamed the company for using the quiz. 

Carsilius Media said the quiz focused on European history and figures and was first posted on its YouTube channel on Oct. 13, 2023. The company claimed it did not receive notice from MSU to use the quiz.

“The entire incident resulted from Michigan State University staff members knowingly and illegally infringing on Plaintiffs’ intellectual property and lying about it in the media. This has caused considerable damage to Plaintiffs,” the company said in a lawsuit, adding that it would have worked with MSU to custom a quiz for the event.

MSU has not yet responded to CBS News Detroit’s request for comment.

The university received backlash after it was shared on social media that Hitler and his birthplace, Austria, were flashed on the video boards more than an hour before kickoff. At the time, a spokesperson said the university was aware of “inappropriate content by a third-party source” and would “not be using the third-party source going forward and will implement stronger screening and approval procedures for all videoboard content in the future.”

According to the lawsuit, Carsilius Media also claimed it feared that MSU’s actions could have impacted an agreement it had with a third party over its revenue stream. Under the agreement, the company could take any action that would impair the value of the stream or The Quiz Channel and would be required to repay the $135,000 it received for the agreement.

“This threat is a direct result of Michigan State’s actions and statements made in attempt to cover up and deflect blame from their use of Plaintiffs’ intellectual property without consent,” the company said in the lawsuit.

The company also said, “In attempting to place blame on the Plaintiffs for Defendant’s unauthorized use of the European Quiz, Defendants broadcast to the public in general, or a large number of people information that was unreasonable and highly objectionable. This broadcast attributed to the plaintiff characteristics, conduct, or beliefs about the October 13 Quiz, and implied that the creators of the European Case Quiz sympathized and/or supported Adoph Hitler and the Nazis, or, at the very least, were unconcerned about same. These statements were false and placed the plaintiff in a false position.”