Wondering about Copyright infringements etc.

[Butterbloom]

Florida?

Can a person make plaques of First Ladies and sell them as commemorative collectibles
without the express permission of the First Ladies?

Can a person say they have a charity and act like they have several employees, ask for money etc.
but not even have the charity set up?

I know a weasel but I don't know what to do about him to stop him from taking people's money.
He lies, cheats, steals and commits fraud all the time and has yet to be caught.

It just fries me. I need to keep this on the QT since my ID here will show up in my post. (Don't know
how to make it not) And then this post will be traceable.

 

[swalsh411]

Yes. The first lady is a public figure.

If a person is representing themselves as an IRS registered tax exempt charitable organization in order to solicit donations and they are not, that is tax fraud and can result in Federal prison.

I think your tin foil had needs adjustment.

 

[quincy]

Florida?

Can a person make plaques of First Ladies and sell them as commemorative collectibles
without the express permission of the First Ladies?

Can a person say they have a charity and act like they have several employees, ask for money etc.
but not even have the charity set up?

I know a weasel but I don't know what to do about him to stop him from taking people's money.
He lies, cheats, steals and commits fraud all the time and has yet to be caught.

It just fries me. I need to keep this on the QT since my ID here will show up in my post. (Don't know
how to make it not) And then this post will be traceable.

I agree with swalsh on all BUT the public figure comment.

Everyone has privacy rights and publicity rights. A person has the right to control the commercial use of their name and image (or voice, mannerisms, etc). Without express permission from an individual, you cannot take their name or their image and use it in a commercial manner. This is the same for both private figures and public figures, although public figures tend to have names and images that are more valuable in the marketplace. Much of a public figure's income can come from paid commercial endorsements.

There is a lot of case law on this - you can look to the suit over the Ty dolls (Malia and Sasha) and the suit over the bobblehead figures (Arnold Schwarzenegger) for two - even though many politicians will not sue over the use of their names or images if it puts their name and image in the public eye in a positive way. But it really depends on the facts.

 

[Butterbloom]

Thank you for your response.

 

[swalsh411]

Schwarzenegger didn't win the suit. They came to a settlement where the gun was removed and a portion was donated to charity. He was a public political figure and parody is allowed there.

 

[quincy]

Yup. In fact, both the Schwarzenegger and the Malia/Sasha doll actions I mentioned were settled.

And, if Butterbloom's weasel friend wants to spend his time and money making First Lady commemorative plaques to sell, and then risk having all of his profits go to a charity (other than himself ), then he can go ahead and make commemorative plaques.

However, when you attempt to profit off the name or image of anyone without their permission (and, in many states, written permission is required), you are infringing on their publicity rights and you can be sued. The names and images of famous people are more valuable than the names and images of ordinary people, and this often translates into lots and lots of money for the famous people, through endorsement deals. Most famous people are not real fond of giving away to just anyone what may be or become their major source of income.

You can create parodies of politicians, and you can create parodies of books and parodies of songs, etc . . . and claiming something is a parody can be a defense to a lawsuit, should exception be taken to the parody by the individual or the entity being parodied. Some suits over parodies have been decided in favor of the parodist, some in favor of those who were parodied.

With all of that said, I agree with your earlier comments about setting up a fake charity and, should Butterbloom's friend be caught, he probably won't have much opportunity to make commemorative plaques, anyway . . . . .license plates, maybe.