[liberationtech] Snowden masks for Holloween?

[Tom O]

Yeah IANAL either but for some odd reason I thought a likeness/name could
be trademarked much like a corporate logo. I'm no good at trademark law
though. Too much mumbo jumbo.

Hah, president? Not me. I don't have the citizenship, friends, money, lack
of morality, promise breaking capacity to be a leader of a nation ;)

On Tuesday, September 3, 2013, Shava Nerad wrote:

> http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_rights
>
> IANAL, but I used to work in entertainment licensing and was a member at
> licensing.org/LIMA.  Probably qualified as a paralegal in this area.
> Trademark has nearly nothing to do with it, although you can involve a
> likeness in a trademark -- at which point it is no longer personal (e.g.
> Col. Sanders' estate has no recourse to complain that the current KFC logo
> isn't a suitable likeness because of the reasonable expectations of
> commercial art of that genre,  if precedent holds).
>
> And, uh, right,  because we don't really care about the law or Snowden's
> rights, just what we can get away with internationally and in the court of
> public opinion.  Thinking of running for president? ;)
>
> SN
>  On Sep 3, 2013 1:52 AM, "Tom O" <winterfilth at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Unless he's trademarked his likeness, it's doubtful he'd have any
> recourse.
>
> And if he did, what chance does he have to defend it in Russia?
>
> Slim to none
>
> On Tuesday, September 3, 2013, Travis McCrea wrote:
>
> I actually disagree... his ownership of his likeness is minimal. He is a
> public figure and as such anyone who wanted to make a mask would be pretty
> free to do so. I am not saying someone should go out and do it, and if you
> do and get sued don't come after me... but if I had the resources available
> and I thought this could make some money I would do it.
>
> Travis McCrea
> http://www.travismccrea.com
> USA: 1(206) 552-8728 / CAN: 1(778) 709-4859
>
> Candidate for the Canadian Pirate Party in the Vancouver Centre riding.
> Any views stated in this email are my own and do not reflect the opinions
> of the party.
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM, Shava Nerad <shava23 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> No one elected him and he may have volunteered for the spotlight but not
> in the same way that some one does when they campaign for office.  Even
> movie stars have a right to their visages.  Where you could say that a sign
> "We are all Snowden" is political speech,  citizen Snowden also has rights
> to privacy and dignity,  and commercial rights that he does not abandon by
> being a well-knnown whistleblower, any more than say Rush Limbaugh would by
> being a well-known radio personality.  Just see how fast the lawyers would
> be layered on top of you if you tried to make Rush masks for Halloween
> without licensing on the basis of him being a public figure -- and he's
> been part of our cultural landscape far longer.  Scarier,  too. ;)
>
> SN
> On Sep 2, 2013 7:43 PM, "Paul Elliott" <pelliott at blackpatchpanel.com>
> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 05:44:41PM -0400, Shava Nerad wrote:
> > Wouldn't there be a licensing issue?  It's a hard argument that he has no
> > right to the commercial exploitation of his likeness on the basis of
> being
> > a fugitive whistleblower,  and I doubt anyone is authorized as an agent
> to
> > grant that license on his behalf.
> >
> > We have these privacy laws about just using people's images without
> > permission.  They are a bit like copyright, but say you can't exploit the
> > subject matter without permission,  for profit,  with a few exceptions.
> > (Face not recognizable,  press reports on "public figures, " release form
> > signed,… ).
> >
> > CSJ ethics guidelines and EFF's bloggers' guides and Berkman's guide for
> > media creators have good outlines for US law on this stuff.
> >
> > Also my union has a nice guide,  the National Writer's Union (AFL-CIO)
> > which I only mention because it's behind a paywall -- and also to explain
> > that since it's May Day… er...Labor Day here in the states, I am lazily
> > quoting all this off the top of my head and making you verify and look up
> > the links.  I am on holiday. ;)
> >
>
> Is not Snowden a public figure? I am sure bush and obama did
> not approve all the bush and obama masks?
>
> --
> Paul Elliott                               1(512)837-1096
> pelliott at BlackPatchPanel.com               PMB 181, 11900 Metric Blvd
> Suite J
> http://www.free.blackpatchpanel.com/pme/   Austin TX 78758-3117
>
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