Quote:
Originally posted by BV
Unseen,
Nobody else here was asking for legal advice (i have plenty) in this thread that I can see except for your off topic "what would you do" question. concerning age verification bla bla bla. Has nothing to do with stolen content.
But let me touch on your "the right of publicity" statement. If I did take pictures of a famous person or any person for that matter and ruined his/her career somehow, Yes he/she could sue me in a Civil court. Not a criminal court. He/she would have to prove damages. My point being: that it is NOT illegal to do what you said, it just opens you up for a civil law suit more so than photographing your average jo blo.
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It's never safe to discuss the law, if you are not an attorney, without the disclaimer "I'm not an attorney, but..."
That said, you're right. It opens you up more to a tort suit than a criminal prosecution. In terms of scariness though, there isn't that much difference, for while the result of a civil suit isn't jail time, it could result in a judgment it would take you many years to pay off. There's more than one way to have your life ruined.
Maybe you're rather face a slick tort lawyer than a proscutorial intern who is still a few years away from being in private practice, but I don't see much to choose between them.
And you are just plumb wrong about needing to ruin someone's life. Check out the suit between Dustin Hoffman and LA Magazine over his right of publicity and you'll see that you don't need to do anything even close to ruining someone's life to lose a lawsuit over right of publicity:
http://law.about.com/library/docs/bl...an_v_LAMag.htm
It's not just famous actors who have the right of publicity, but exotic dancers, models, and all sorts of sub-celebrities as well. Basically, anyone who earns a significant portion of their income (or is trying to) can probably claim right of publicity.
Now, when you are snapping a picture of someone, do you know from looking at them whether they are someone who earns money this way? I don't. This is why photographers say, "Always get a release."