Questions tagged [right-of-publicity]
The right of individuals to control commercial use and benefits from their identity or likeness.
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Are Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) of public athletes protected by copyright?
Assume the following facts:
Jurisdiction: Ohio
Alice is a professional athlete, well known to the public.
Bob makes "fan art" of Alice and attempts to sell his art to the public.
Question: ...
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Book cover image with faces found online
I am paying Zuma Ltd for a licensing fee to publish an image that has been online since 2016 which includes faces of at least two famous individuals and several anonymous audience members. The image ...
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Book cover photo of actor and their "Right of publicity"
I see unauthorized, unflattering books in the US about celebrities all the time that use that celebrity's image on the book (clearly NOT with their express permission) - because the book is non-...
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Right to show photographs without permission in a church setting
It seems there is a right to publicly share photographs of people taken without their permission, if the photographs are taken in public places.
Would that right apply to a church setting? Or would ...
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Are self-portraits exempt from the right of publicity according to the Creative Commons license?
The legal code of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license states:
Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not licensed under this Public License, nor are publicity, ...
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Publishing (non-commercially) a video-interview with a celebrity online, without written consent
Suppose that several years ago a non-profit organization made a short video-interview with one of the most famous US performers, who very rarely gives interviews.
Suppose that it was recorded in ...
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What is the meaning of "exploitation" in a publicity agreement and is it necessary for a waiver of claims?
An agreement says:
"I hereby expressly release, discharge and waive all claims, demands, losses and liabilities...which may arise from my participation...hereunder or as a result of the ...
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Publishing an interview/conversations in a book without explicit consent
Let's say I've conducted an interview/conversation as the interviewer with someone. I didn't tell him I may publish that interview (in a book or elsewhere) as I wasn't thinking of publishing it at the ...
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Could a celebrity theoretically claim copyright on the arrangement of makeup/jewelry/clothing on their persons to sue paparazzi?
Just something I've wondered about for a while. Ownership of our likenesses seems to be fairly weak in the US, but photography of public art such as graffiti can be a copyright violation.
Could a ...
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Legalities of making a documentary/biography about a person's life
I just read an article about how Mike Tyson is calling for a boycott of Hulu over a documentary they are making about his life.
He says the documentary is 'unauthorized' and that an 'authorized' life ...
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When can I sell 3d models and 2d renders of dead peoples and celebrities?
When is it allowed to create and sell 3d models and 2d renders of existing dead people and celebrities?
I can imagine this is not a easy topic and is different depending on the jurisdiction. Here are ...
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Can a platform become a publisher through it's actions?
Platforms such as social media sites are protected under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, this allows platforms to avoid liability for most content posted by its users.
Publishers, on ...
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Plausibility of US Suit over Ownership of Photos of Slaves
Background
As reported in this Washington Post news article and many similar articles in other major news organs, a lawsuit has very recently been filed against Harvard University and various ...
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Are there legal implications to lying about your sponsors?
Let's say I release a video where I say "sponsored by Company C" even though they never sponsored me.
Are there legal implications to lying about that, or is this action protected by the First ...
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Can a celebrity sue someone who takes obnoxious pictures/videos of him in public and uploads onto internet without his permission?
Suppose a celebrity digs his nose or scratches his private part because of sudden itch or performs some unsightly act in public. Someone takes his picture/video and uploads onto internet without his ...
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Profit from a celebrity domain name if I have the same name?
Here is my situation.
I have a fairly unique first/last name in the States but it is common
in another country. I live in the States.
I own a .com, which is my full name. It is an empty page right ...
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Are photographs of portraits of Mozart that are in the public domain free for commercial use?
While there are photos of Einstein that are in the public domain (e.g. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_Einstein_(Nobel).png), Einstein ,the person, is not in the public domain. For this ...
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Do I need a star's permission to write a fiction TV series inspired but not exactly as his life?
I want to write a fiction TV series inspired by a true love story between a star and his fans except that I'm going to represent the fans as an actual female character and make it a romantic series. ...
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What information about a person are private and what are public?
What information of a person I may write on my web site without special permission from that person? Lets take 'Steve Jobs', you can find a lot of websites where you can find date of birth, name, ...
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What are the intellectual property rules regarding painting a real/fictitious person?
I am an absolute layman and unaware whether there are universally accepted (or something like the UN recommended) copyright laws or not and thus, I have not specified as to which copyright laws I am ...
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If I'm the director of photography for a project, does the production company need a model release from me if I film myself in the project?
I am the DP (director of photography) on a streaming TV show filmed in New York state. I am not employed by the production company, but rather work as a contractor with them. The production company ...
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Drug-testing on background
What sort of circumstances would allow a company or lab to put a positive pre-employment drug test on your background or send it to a consumer report agency? I'm curious about the consequences of ...
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Using celebrity recording without permission
In the US, if one legally records a conversation with a celebrity, is one then allowed to use snippets of the recording (say, too short and generic for words spoken to be copyrighted) to produce a ...
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Can I legally use a photo if I'm in it?
I used to be a professional athlete. Gettyimages has many photos of me but want $500 per photo for a digital download. Do I have to pay for rights to the photos in which I am featured?
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Is using a person's face in satirical video without video legal?
I Have Been Taking Photos Of People And Putting Them On Youtube Videos In Satirical Context Without Consent. In One Case, It Was Against Their Will. I Do Not Leak Any Information Or Send Hate Or ...
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Can you be sued for using someone else's last name in app?
We are looking to create an app that contains someones last name in the title, as well as some data created by him.
The data is public for anyone to use in the form of spreadsheets, the goal of the ...
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Is it legal to use a person's name for a commercial purpose if it is a household name?
As an example, could I make a company called "Einstein Electronics" or "Houdini Locks" (probably not a great name for a lock company) or something without getting permission from the named persons, ...
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Media consent form for summer camp
We have a media consent form that parents have signed for the campers at our summer camp. The wording is as follows:
The Participant identified below desires to participate in the [insert summer ...
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Celebrity images for non commercial purposes
Can I source photos off of the web of celebrities for non-commercial purposes? In particular: a theatre wants to project images of celebrities onto the backdrop of their stage as part of a "tribute ...
Sandy Morton
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What recourse do I have against commercial use of my image?
Somebody took photos of my wife on a treadmill at a gym without her permission.
One of those photos appeared a week later in the local paper in an advertisement for a car dealership.
Subsequently my ...
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Does posting a photo of a couple on a website require permission from both people in the photo?
Working on a unique concept website, I am questioning how legal it is and what sort of disclaimer would need to be present in the T&C to remain protected.
Basically, a user pays a fee and is ...
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Am I allowed to use famous peoples' faces in an app?
For example, can I use David Cameron's face in an app, without permission?
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What is illegal about my app?
I want to create an app similar to the 4shared Music app that enables downloading MP3 files stored on my server.
Features
Serves all mp3 files from host server
Distributed via Google Play Store
Music ...
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Are pictures that don't have model releases protected under the DMCA?
Let's say a user of my website posted a picture. I know that as long as my website and the picture satisfies the conditions of the DMCA, I have a safe harbor against copyright claims by the individual ...
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What is considered "public" in the context of taking videos or audio recordings?
According to the answers in this question it's legal to photograph someone in public without their consent. I'm assuming the answers still hold true for video or audio recording (such as what can be ...
user791
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How do laws affect photography of non-humans in public when people may be in the frame?
Given that this is taking place in a public area where one would not have an expectation of privacy, what legal restrictions exist on photography of people where they are not the subject of the ...
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What are the legal repercussions of taking a stranger's picture in public?
With Snapchat and Instagram it is all too easy to abuse picture taking and really inexpensive to snap a photo of an unknowing stranger. If you are in public and will only post pictures online without ...
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