On 97-07-31, Mark Lemley <mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
> I just saw the movie Contact. It contains approximately 3 minutes
> worth of speeches "by" Bill Clinton, which were actually created by
> the movie producer from existing film clips of Clinton. Clinton
> apparently did not approve this use, and was not paid.
>
> Is there any reason this wouldn't violate the right of publicity
> in California?
It is my understanding that because politicians are the "ultimate" public figures they do not benefit from right of publicity (and perhaps privacy) laws that the rest of us enjoy. I suspect that this is because our system wants to encourage the greatest extent of free speech relating to political activity; and commercializations, perhaps somewhat akin to parody, are a"form" of free speech. I do not know if there are any statutes on this or relevant case law. I would be interested in hearing about it.
Bob Panzer
VAGA (Visual Artists and Galleries Association)
<bigbusie[_at_]aol.com>
Received on Fri Aug 01 1997 - 05:31:13 GMT
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