Today's post just goes to show how pervasive Intellectual Property Law has become in our culture. The Sporting News - Superfans Can Count as Celebrities? The right of publicity is generally defined as an individual's right to control and profit from the commercial use of his/her name, likeness and persona, which shall be referred to in this article as the "individual's identity". Protecting the individual from the loss of commercial value resulting from the unauthorized appropriation of an individual's identity for commercial purposes is the principle purpose of this body of law. Video games have come a long way from the days of Tecmo Bowl (Image Courtesy of Kotaku)  Back then, fans were nothing but colorful specks in the background, but now you can actually see real people in the stands (Image Courtesy of 40AcresSports.com)  Clearly we have gotten to a point where the identity of a person in the stands can be ascertained by the viewer. Understandably, in order to make the games more "realistic", they add these special touches for authenticity. That might be a problem if some of these SuperFans actually use their identity for commercial value (advertisements, etc.) Does this mean that video game creators should seek permission from fans before using their likeness? I would say, yes. In our example here, I doubt anyone would buy Madden 2010 simply because "Big Dawg" is in the game, but a highly realistic experience is a huge factor in the game's sales and should not be discounted. I expect that this suit will get settled and dismissed, but a word of advice to other SuperFans - think about registering your persona, just like the Naked Cowboy. |
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Jordan's Blog >
Right to Publicity and "Big Dawg"?posted Oct 8, 2009 6:37 AM by Jordan Walbesser |