Re: Rights in real characters

On 7/30/97, 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?

Two approaches to this question immediately come to mind:

(1) Reliance on some kind of amorphous, on-the-fly First Amendment exception for the depiction of "government officials elected to high office"

or, more satisfying,

(2) Reliance on the practical fact that Presidents (among others) never have and never will sue for infringement of their right of publicity (presumably, due to the negligible benefits as compared to the potentially huge PR cost).

Christopher Pesce
pesce[_at_]seanet.com Received on Sat Aug 02 1997 - 00:27:24 GMT