Comments on: The Film Industry’s Loophole: Sound-alikes

By: bruidsfotograaf apeldoorn

bruidsfotograaf apeldoorn — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:40:12 +0000

bruidsfotograaf apeldoorn…

[...]The Film Industry’s Loophole: Sound-alikes » Copyright, Commerce, and Culture[...]…

By: chair yoga poses

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By: Miguel Prosienski

Miguel Prosienski — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:25:22 +0000

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By: elizabethshelby

elizabethshelby — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:15:51 +0000

If that were the case, Kate Gosselin could have a field day with the Halloween wigs featuring her signature hairstyle…

By: Caroline

Caroline — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:02:42 +0000

Okay, so I don’t have anything intellectually stimulating to say, but I had to comment on how absurd this is. I knew there was a Right of Publicity, but going as far as having a likeness in voices? While I understand that her unique voice is what brings in money, I think suing for sound-alikes is a bit extreme. What next, people suing for someone stealing a hairstyle?

By: ams799

ams799 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:10:52 +0000

In my Journalism Ethics and First Amendment class, we talked about this case. This type of sound-alike case actually falls under the appropriation tort as part of privacy law.

Appropriation is defined as use of a person’s name, likeness or identity for trade or advertising purposes without consent. Bette Midler sued the Ford Motor Company for appropriation and won because her voice (which is her defining feature) was initially copied and used for the profit of Ford. Another very interesting appropriation case is Vanna White v. Samsung that used a robot who dressed in a blond wig and evening dress and turned letters as part of an advertisement (http://www1.law.umkc.edu/Faculty/levit/DefamationPrivacy/spring08/WhitevSamsung.pdf). Vanna White sued for appropriation since she is known for her role as letter turner on Wheel of Fortune. Other factors involved in this case included parody and right to publicity. White received summary judgment under the right to publicity portion of the law, not for appropriation.

In any event, I never actually considered this sort of case from the perspective of copyright. You bring up an interesting point in which the words of the song are not being copied, but the likeness of the singer is the actual point of contention. Using 5 seconds of a song for remixing doesn’t seem so bad after stealing the likeness of a person’s defining characteristics.