Mob Wife Suing Rockstar Over Supposed Likeness In GTA5
from the fishing-for-cash dept
I suppose it's because Rockstar Games' opus, Grand Theft Auto 5, is equal parts sandbox game and Rorschach test that makes it such a likely target for people who incorrectly think that the game's makers appropriated their likenesses. We already saw one such publicized story in which Lindsay Lohan was reportedly looking into suing Rockstar over the game's cover art and a character so completely and insanely lascivious that one would wonder why someone like Lohan would want to actively attempt to associate herself with it. In any case, she was wrong on both charges. Even if she were right, the portrayal was clear parody (though, again, not of her specifically).
Well, meet Karen Gravano, wife of the man who brought down John Gotti, and instigator of a $40 million dollar lawsuit against Rockstar for GTA5's portayal of a minor character in a side mission, utilizing the relatively new and insane concept of publicity rights.
The ripped-off character is Antonia Bottino, said Gravano’s lawyer Thomas Farinella. The animated hottie is rescued by the game's main character after getting buried alive off a dirt road. She then recounts how a murder charge was pinned on her father and how the family was forced to be “moving around safe houses in rat-hole hick towns where no one comes looking,” according to an online synopsis of GTA V. Her fictional dad, former Gambetti family underboss Sammy (Sonny) Bottino, eventually became a snitch, acquiring many enemies. He would not allow her to participate in a show called “Wise Bitches,” an obvious takedown of the VH1 reality show.Here, again, we see the problem posed both by GTA5's depictions of pop culture and the Rorschach nature of the characters. Are there aspects of the character that have a vague and likely parodied similarity to Gravano? Sure, you could convince me of that. But, as with the Lohan "character", the character has many other characteristics and story backgrounds that do not jive with Gravano's. Such as what happens to her in the game. She never claims in her filing to have any further commonality with the character in the games' actions. In fact, one of the similarities she cites, her mobster father not allowing her to appear on a reality show, would be directly refuted by the fact that Gravano appeared on a reality show until its fourth season. What this appears to be, again, is a parody character consisting of a composite of real life people featured in pop culture. You know, like every character in the Grand Theft Auto series is. That's the whole point. To somehow look at a parody that features a vague nod in the direction of a public figure and think that should result in $40 million? That's just crazy.
Furthermore, this all revolves around the theory of publicity rights, something we've covered before. This is a legal concept ill-defined at best, where the limitations on bringing a suit are only those of money-seeking attorneys. You can imagine what a problem that continues to be, particularly in light of the clash such a concept has with rights towards expression. Think of it this way: if a public figure can sue over the use of their image and/or story simply by claiming the use is commercial, an accusation that can be stretched unbelievably thinly, any expression dealing with that figure will resulting be sanitized. Documentaries on controversial figures would be out the window. Artistic interpretations of importnat people gone. No measure of intellectual property was designed with that kind of censorship in mind.
So, to conclude, we have a bad theory of law being practiced upon a target that is likely not guilty of it in the first place. That's the kind of legal hijinks that you get when you allow people to believe they can own their own history. Congratulations, IP!
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Filed Under: grant theft auto, john gotti, karen gravano, parody, publicity rights
Companies: rockstar
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Self-fulfilling lawsuit
1. The resemblance was intentional, but vague enough that only the people directly involved can really link the two.
2. The resemblance wasn't intentional, and the only person who links the fictional with the factual is the person suing.
After however, suddenly a whole lot of people link the fictional character with the real person, whether or not they were linked before, and a lawsuit brought about supposedly to 'protect' the person's reputation instead torpedoes it far more effectively than the original fictional characterization ever could have.
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Re: Self-fulfilling lawsuit
Shall we call it The Gravano Effect?
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I've long been fascinated by the willingness of people to identify with unsavory, unsympathetic, fictional characters.
Oddly enough, I've had my own run-ins with folks who think I'm writing about them. A woman was apparently convinced that one of my characters was her. But she never said which one, leaving me to hope it wasn’t the the pissed off lady with the .357 Magnum and a box of explosives.*
At least she didn't sue me.
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* "Point of Honor", which those interested can find in The Anarchy Belt (freebie).
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The examples you use as abuses of this right are documentaries and artistic interpretations. Both are immune from suit from the right of publicity, for example the statute in California specifically exempts "a play, book, magazine, newspaper, musical composition, audiovisual work, radio or television program, single and original work of art, work of political or newsworthy value, or an advertisement or commercial announcement for any of these works."
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Re: Self-fulfilling lawsuit
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Jive means bullshit. As in, "Man that cat was talkin' some jive." Combined with a noun, it means a bullshitter. As in, "You are a jive turkey."
Jibe means to be in accord or agreement with. As in, "This story does not jibe with my assumption that the character in GTA V was parodying someone relevant."
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Re: I've long been fascinated by the willingness of people to identify with unsavory, unsympathetic, fictional characters.
Celebrities all the more so. In fact, their egocentric nature is the very reason they are successful in their field.
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Re: Re: I've long been fascinated by the willingness of people to identify with unsavory, unsympathetic, fictional characters.
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* No, I didn't sue. I laughed. A lot. It was an inside joke regarding firearms preferences; pretty darned funny to those who know me.
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Re: I've long been fascinated by the willingness of people to identify with unsavory, unsympathetic, fictional characters.
Me too. It's really fascinating to me -- invariably, I don't see the resemblance between them and the character they think is is really them, and I'm the author.
On the other hand, I have written characters that I did specifically model after actual people. I've never heard a peep from them.
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Re: Re: Self-fulfilling lawsuit
The Gravano Effect: (1) The Act of Streisandsuiting oneself. (2) Filing a lawsuit about publicity rights, in which before such suit was filed, no one knew who the hell said person was, bringing all the attention that said person didn't want to have that they alone brought upon themselves, thereby proving they had publicity rights to protect in the first place. (3) A self fulfilling and self supporting publicity rights lawsuit for any person in the world that anyone would not know or care to know about, and said person would still be anonymous except for the fact that they filed such a lawsuit. (4) A lawsuit in which everyone has to hear about some nobody and "their" publicity rights being violated in a court of law (the most useful byproduct of which will be converting oxygen into CO2), and wasting precious time that could be better spent digging for earwax and removing belly button lint.
Extra:
Streisandsuiting: (1) A combination of the Streisand Effect and Gravano Effect.
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Re:
Oh really?
Publicity rights are what stop people from taking a photograph of you and using it for advertising, because copyright belongs to the photographer.
Yes, that's what they were for initially. But, as we've discussed in detail, they've grown way, way beyond that. Like in this case, for example.
The examples you use as abuses of this right are documentaries and artistic interpretations. Both are immune from suit from the right of publicity
Except that we still see lawsuits of this nature all the time.
So.
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Compare to Vanna White
White v. Samsung Electronics
Note the dissenting opinion to the bizarre majority opinion.
If there was no "likeness," then how could there be a violation of publicity by using her "non-likeness"?
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Karen dreams too much or gaming too much
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