'GTA V' Character Doesn't Resemble Lindsay Lohan, Court Rules (rollingstone.com) 67
Actress Lindsay Lohan has failed in her latest attempt to sue the maker of the video game Grand Theft Auto V. From a report: While the court said in an opinion a computer generated image may be considered a "portrait" under current state civil rights law, "the artistic renderings are indistinct, satirical representations of the style, look, and persona of a modern, beach-going young woman that are not reasonably identifiable as the plaintiff." Lohan sued GTA V publisher Take-Two Interactive in 2014 over a NPC in the game called Lacey Jonas. Players encounter her while she's hiding in an alley from the paparazzi. She describes herself as an "actress slash singer" and the "voice of a generation."
Artwork during the game's loading screens depict similar blonde women. One is wearing a red bikini and flashing a peace sign as she takes a selfie. Another wears a fedora and large sunglasses while being frisked by a female police officer. Lohan claimed developer Rockstar Games modelled the character and screens after her, using her "image, likeness, clothing, outfits, clothing line products, and ensemble in the form of hats, hairstyle, and sunglasses" without her permission.
Artwork during the game's loading screens depict similar blonde women. One is wearing a red bikini and flashing a peace sign as she takes a selfie. Another wears a fedora and large sunglasses while being frisked by a female police officer. Lohan claimed developer Rockstar Games modelled the character and screens after her, using her "image, likeness, clothing, outfits, clothing line products, and ensemble in the form of hats, hairstyle, and sunglasses" without her permission.
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Um. (Score:1)
That's not a fedora though, it's a trilby.
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Back to the basement, dweeb
How is this even a case? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know why it matters whether the NPC resembles her or not. They could have made it look even more like her and it wouldn't be a case. The protections for parody are very broad, especially when directed at public figures.
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They hired a girl for that and this dried out old drunk is still trying to profit from work she cannot and did not do, Lohan give it a rest you drank yourself out of a career.
Re: How is this even a case? (Score:2)
The NPC isn't the focus of the game though, merely a small element of it. Additionally one can argue that even a work in a gallery or a work commissioned have commercial aspects, a gallery may be trying to sell its contents or may charge admissions, and a for-commission work results in the artist getting paid. It now becomes a matter of the degree to which this behavior is acceptable, versus it being outright prohibited. Creating an image or representation based on another fictional work in which the sub
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That's true of some artistic renderings, like a painting hung in a gallery, but art that appears in commercial products aren't granted as much leeway, particularly under California law.
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think California law matters. Parody is protected as a 1-A issue, and court precedent backs that up.
Re:How is this even a case? (Score:5, Insightful)
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IIRC she wasn't even in the game itself, just on the loading screens.
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Cough, cough, many different actresses seem to be generalisations of many different successful actresses who were in turn generalisation of other successful actresses and on it goes. Keep in mind pretty, is not special other than being really average looking, proven by science, you average out images of people and they take on what is accepted as an attractive appearance. So they will tend to all look alike and as the are managed by the same people behave publicly alike and as the same narcissistic ego and
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"They could have made it look even more like her and it wouldn't be a case. "
She seems to think everybody in a prostitute costume is copying her.
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That's an interesting point, but I don't think this is the right case to set a precedent for that. I haven't played this particular GTA game, but what I remember from the ones I did play, is that pretty much everything was a parody of something. Like, "Vice City" was a parody for Miami, the radio shows were parodies, etc.
The idea of using CGI to animate a famous actor without paying themwell, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before we go down that rabbit hole. But it's an audacious move, so I doubt a maj
Right to parady (Score:2)
I haven't actually played the game, however, I would think that such a character would be covered as a 'political satire' even if they exactly took her image.
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I haven't actually played the game, however, I would think that such a character would be covered as a 'political satire' even if they exactly took her image.
L.L. is a politician? Cool.
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It's not necessary to be a politician, merely just a well known public figure.
Oops, I did it again
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That was just .. Toxic.
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L.L. is a politician? Cool.
. . . rumor has it that she's Oprah's pick as VP candidate . . .
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L.L. is a politician? Cool.
For a second I thought you were referring to LL Cool J [wikipedia.org].
I considered that, but if you have to put Cool in your name to persuade people that you are cool, you are not cool. So L.L. it was. Not LL.
Please check your hubris at the door, Lohan... (Score:5, Interesting)
You know, she might theoretically have been right about her being the inspiration for that one character... but it seems obvious that the reason she lost is because she got greedy, and pushed the comparison much, much too far. It was the absolute pinnacle of vanity for her to try to claim that basically all of the blond females likewise had to've been "stolen" from her.
Know your limits, people. Push things too far, and you're gonna fall right off the cliff... and ain't nobody gonna try to catch you, either.
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The Last of Us (Score:2)
Why is this on /. ? (Score:2)
wow (Score:2, Funny)
Lindsay Lohan doesn't even look like Lindsay Lohan anymore
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Yeah. She wishes she looked as good as the artwork in the GTA game.
Next Lawsuit... (Score:2)
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Doesn't she have a career as an escort in Dubai? Or at least did?
Hot Mess (Score:2)
What's hilarious about the lawsuit was that the only real notable similarity was that both the character and Lindsay Lohan are complete and total fuckups. By filing the lawsuit she's essentially saying that any reference to, "an actress who can't stop doing stupid shit" could only be a reference to her.
I feel kind of bad for Lindsay Lohan, but the suit was an act of desperation. Anyone with any dignity would never have tried to make the connection...and no one else would have made it either.
Confused (Score:2)
I'm still so confused about what happened with GTA V.
It was as though I finished the game on my Xbox 360, and then there was a new version of the game released on the Xbox One a year later that had way more content and first-person mode.
Did I buy a beta version of the game without ever receiving the full game?