Ex-American football player attempts to breathe life into failed lawsuit claiming Gears of War used his likeness

Former NFL player and pro-wrestler Lenwood Hamilton has asked the Supreme Court to revive his suit accusing Microsoft and Epic Games of using his likeness in the Gears of War game franchise. Things weren't going well for Hamilton when we last checked in on his legal tussle in 2019, and the most recent petition [PDF], filed …

[Blackjack]

[there is a First Amendment right to place the image of the Dalai Lama or the Pope in a violent shoot-em-up game against their wishes.]

I think I played a Flash game about that? Or maybe it was a President Bush Flash game?

[six_tymes]

greedy for more money. The character doesn't look ANYTHING like him.

[a_yank_lurker]

Legal Thicket

The article brings up a legal thicket about using anyone's likeness for commercial purposes. In many situations if you intend to use an image commercially you should have a signed model release allowing you to do so.

[Falmari]

Re: Legal Thicket

As it is not a photo how do you know it is Lenwood Hamilton's likeness, to me it looks like it is Lester Speight's likeness who also did the voice over.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Legal Thicket

It's not really a legal thicket... it's just the right thing to do.

You're polite and you ask nicely, or grandmama beats the crap outta you.

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: Legal Thicket

Depending on the country you may need a model release for some street photography if the person is identifiable; check with a local attorney who is knowledgeable about local privacy laws. What is legal in Feraldom is often not legal in other countries. But likenesses of public figures (an athlete usually qualifies) will often need a model release for commercial purposes.

[Gene Cash]

Lindsay Lohan - GTA 5

To me, this is not much different from when Lindsay Lohan said the blonde on the package of GTA 5 was her.

[Dave 126]

Re: Lindsay Lohan - GTA 5

The GTA woman looked like a generic blonde starlet to me, but then I'm better at distinguishing some faces than I am others.

Or perhaps it says something about the Hollywood system that lots of women who look like Lindsay Lohan (or Alicia Silverstone) are cast in films and on TV.

[Dave 126]

The comic magician Penn Juliette talks about having his likeness used as a non-player character in the game Borderlands... they showed him the 3D model for his approval. He asked that his model be given a bigger codpiece, and the developers obliged.

[Mark192]

'the differences were enough to satisfy the Transformative Use standard." and concerns of "a First Amendment right to place the image of the Dalai Lama or the Pope in a violent shoot-em-up game against their wishes."

Quite! /A/ Pope is fine, using /the/ Pope should need his permission.

Probably the sort of complaint a normal person could resolve with a glance at a couple of pictures.

Now lawyers are involved, years.

:rollseyes:

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Celebrity Deathmatch on MTV

Were there any legal wranglesgrapples with this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Deathmatch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Celebrity_Deathmatch_episodes

I presume the video game would have had some sort of agreement with the people featured therein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Deathmatch_(video_game)

[arachnoid2]

It wasnt him

It was his twin brother that was used as the model

[Mr Dogshit]

To be honest

They all look the same to me.