Take 2 Goes On The Offensive Against Lindsay Lohan
from the live-by-the-sword... dept
We've come to know Lindsay Lohan quite a bit here at Techdirt, chiefly around the way she appears to see the American legal system as her own publicity engine. After making a name for herself for filing claims against all kinds of companies she somehow thinks are using her image in the most subtle way possible, she recently decided to file a publicity rights claim against Take Two Interactive, makers of Grand Theft Auto 5. See, Lindsay saw the GTA character Lacey Jonas drive drunk and screw in public in the fifth installment of the series and decided that was totally her.
Take Two Interactive, thankfully, isn't taking the lawsuit lying down. They don't just want the case dismissed; they want Lohan sanctioned by the court as well.
"Lindsay Lohan complains that her image and persona have been wrongfully used by Take-Two in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, but her claim is so legally meritless that it lacks any good-faith basis and can only have been filed for publicity purposes," states the defendant's memorandum to support dismissal.The idea of placing a monetary sanction on an individual abusing the legal system is tantalizing enough on its own; to have this done to the insipid Lindsay Lohan, attacker of free speech, parody and video games, super-charges the attractiveness of the possibility. It's high-time that the publicity rights trend gets taken down a few notches, if not completely abolished. Any step in that direction would be welcome.
You might wonder how a filing like this, one which might result in payment going the opposite direction, could get past Lohan's legal team. As we've noted before, she isn't the best judge of who to hire as a lawyer, it seems.
In taking on Take-Two, Lohan has dispensed with the lawyers who were caught plagiarizing in the Pitbull case in favor of new legal representation that spelled her first name "Lindsey" in one part of the complaint.Take Two Interactive is essentially arguing that the claims by Lohan are without merit, something she and her team should have been aware of considering the results of the action against Pitbull, which found that creative works, even if for sale, are protected in the event of parody. I had already figured the company would win this for that reason, but if we can start sanctioning celebrities making spurious claims, all the better.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: grand theft auto 5, gta 5, lindsay lohan, publicity rights, sanctions
Companies: take 2 interactive
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
"posted a year and a day before suit was filed."
It takes some pretty bad lawyering to miss your statute of limitations deadline by a day.
"Take-Two also is providing the Court with a complete copy of the actual GTAV game"
Depending on the judge, they may either enjoy reviewing this evidence, or hate it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
still don't understand how Vanna White won her case
Something like - - they didn't appropriate her likeness, but violated her right of publicity by using her likeness, which really wasn't her likeness.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I guess I'm the lucky one here
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I guess I'm the lucky one here
I actually don't either, except that she's apparently someone who sees a drunken, ridiculous character in a video game, and immediately thinks that it's based upon herself, which really, tells me all I need to know about her.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lilo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Lilo
"cause only a super hero could bang her, and live.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
All we'd have is corruption, spying, the police state, patent trolling, government abuse of power, abusive corporations and such to discuss. We need something laughable every once in a while...
I guess Mayor Jim incorporates a few of those, but still, we need the ridiculous!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
All we need to know about Linsey whoever....
Yes, that says all we need to know about her character.
But the suit is saying that she's DEFAMED. Now the only identification in the game is an image of a skinny blonde female model with vicious personal habits. "Skinny blonde model" describes 45% of the actors in hollywood....the only differentiating factor is the vicious personal habits. And, this being hollywood, it takes some serious delinquency to stand out from the other blonde delinquents.
So we have to already KNOW this Lindsey blonde-joke is the blonde that is has such vicious personal habits that ALL THE OTHER BLONDE ACTRESSES NOTICED ... and THEN we'll all just know it's her. Anyone that doesn't know Lindsey is the most delinquencest of them all, won't see any connection.
You can't defame someone if you impart no information at all (scurrilous or otherwise). But in this case, only people who already know the secret can assume that the secret is being told.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
we have no patent trolls,
massive government surveillence, cops don,t use tasers,
most cops are unarmed .
IT seems the usa is getting closer to a police state,
cops getting military weapons.
Every phone call ,text,email ,facebook post,is monitored ,recorded,
its surreal.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]