Alleged Ax-Murderer Claims News Reporter Violates His Likeness Rights
from the publicity-rights-gone-mad dept
In the latest example of "publicity rights" gone mad, a guy on trial for murder, David French, has asked that a judge in the court order a TV news reporter to turn off his recording equipment because he doesn't want his story told in the press before he gets to write a book about it. As the anonymous submitter of this story noted, "presumably, French is unaware that, if found guilty, the "Son of Sam Law" would prevent him from profiting on any such book."French said the reporter had no right to record the trial because French may want to write a book someday and doesn't want media telling the story first.Thankfully (but not surprisingly), the court shot this down pretty quickly, pointing out that cameras are allowed in the courtroom.
"The court is allowing a commercial entity to make money off of this," French said. "They don't have a right to my name, likeness and ... story."
Filed Under: likeness rights, murderer, publicity rights
