George McFarland can still call himself "Spanky" but does not hold the rights to the image of the chubby, beanie-clad smart aleck he played in the "Little Rascals" and "Our Gang" series, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Clarkson Fisher tossed out McFarland's lawsuit against Joseph Miller, an Ocean Township, N.J., businessman whose tavern, Spanky McFarland's, was lined with "Little Rascals" photographs.
Fisher ruled Monday that the 64-year-old McFarland relinquished rights to the Spanky name and image in a contract his parents signed with Hal Roach Studios in 1936. McFarland "retained merely the right to use the nickname `Spanky,' not the right to license the name and image of `Spanky' to others," Fisher wrote. "Hal Roach Studios Inc. retained those rights."McFarland did not immediately return calls to his Fort Worth, Texas, home.