CURLY ON YOUR BACK

04/05/1999 at 12:00 AM EDT

California's Supreme Court will "soitenly" decide whether Gary Saderup has the right to market Three Stooges T-shirts. The high court agreed this week to review a $75,000 verdict against Saderup for producing T-shirts with charcoal sketches of Larry, Moe and Curly. Comedy III Productions, which holds the commercial rights to the Three Stooges, had sued Saderup and won under a California law that prohibits the unauthorized commercial use of a dead celebrity's likeness. On appeal, Saderup argued that he is an artist whose work in protected by the Constitution.