Loki_The_Good said:
Using a likeness as satire ... So if she wins this does that mean that SNL will be forced off the air? seriously no one bought this game thinking it was backed by her likeness. How desperate for attention is she.
Well, "Fair Use" and the various protections afforded to parodists and satirists is a very touchy subject, and a legal mine field. After all we've seen Todd Mcfarlane get slammed hard by a hockey player for being used as the inspiration/model for the gangster "Tony Twist" in his "Spawn" comics. Not to mention how Todd himself did things like bully RPG publisher Palladium books over using the name "Nightspawn" and an extreme vague similarity in the style of artwork for an RPG series (which was renamed "Nightbane"). Weird Al, one of the most victorious parodists of all time was somewhat reluctant to actually cross Lady Gaga over his parody of one of her songs, despite insisting during this that he could have released it for money anyway and won "but he won't disrespect the artists that way" which leads one to believe he wasn't exactly eager to roll those dice from his end again.
Of course at the same time they pretty much ripped out off the likes and performance style of "Lady Miss Kier" from Dee Lite to make Ulala in "Space Channel 5" after being denied permission when they asked for it. Ironically Lady Miss Kier lost this one, when she really shouldn't have. She had a better case than say "Tony Twist".
At the end of the day it seems to oftentimes come down to both how good your lawyers are, how much money is involved, and how flattering the portrayal in the work is. Not to mention the viability of being able to hire or offer to hire the person being used, and of course if someone's inherent name and likeness carries with it any intristic value.
If she's right Lindsay probably deserves to win, she's a mess IRL, but from how this sounds the portrayal in GTA5, especially one that has her dealing with ultra-violent criminal elements (ie the player characters) to solve problems is not exactly flattering. A point which came up in the Mcfarlane case I believe, since casting an Athlete as a career criminal isn't exactly flattering. What's more they probably could have actually hired Lindsay Lohan to do the role, but to be fair probably didn't even try, because even as a somewhat faded star (for the moment at least) she's still got enough celebrity oomph (whether you like her or not) to demand more money than Rockstar probably wanted to pay for a bit part. What's more people are a LOT more aware of video games and the money to be made off of them nowadays than they were when "Space Channel 5" was released.
Lindsay isn't one of my favorite celebrities to be sure, but I don't hate her like some people do. She usually comes across like a messed up kid to me more than anyone really evil, and she does seem to have some talent along with a decent. From that perspective which is about as close to neutral as you can get, if I had to make a judgement on this case from what is said here, I'd have to see the bits from the game, and if it's an obvious reference/likeness I'd award Lindsay whatever the average asking price her agent demands for a few recording sessions or a film/TV appearance and then force Rockstar to pick up her legal costs. I would not however bankrupt Rockstar or anything over it. I'd imagine at the end of the day I'd wind up costing them a few million dollars.
