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A New York appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit by Lindsay Lohan which accused Rockstar and Take-Two of violating the right-of-publicity law, which prevents the use of a person’s portrait, picture or voice for advertising or trade purposes when no written consent has been given.
The lawsuit was based on two images, “red bikini girl” found on the cover of the game, and woman being frisky with a cop. Both characters were claimed to be based on Lohan.
Back in March a Manhattan judge denied a motion by Rockstar’s lawyers to dismiss the case, but Rockstar got the result it wanted on appeal. The appellate panel ruled that the images used in the video game do not qualify as advertising or trade.
“Even if we accept plaintiffs’ contentions that the video game depictions are close enough to be considered representations of the respective plaintiffs, plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed because this video game does not fall under the statutory definitions of “advertising” or “trade.”… This video game’s unique story, characters, dialogue, and environment, combined with the player’s ability to choose how to proceed in the game, render it a work of fiction and satire.”
Lawyers representing Lohan or Rockstar have not commented on the decision.
Source: WSJ Law Blog
