Popsquire

As you know, Popsquire will do just about anything for a blog, especially if it involves watching Oxygen’s Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.  Previously, Popsquire discussed Janice’s potential collision with religious discrimination laws here. 

Now, there is yet another potential collision between pop culture and law in the form of Webisode 307, Part 2.  In this webisode, while Janice undergoes surgery, her models impersonate dead music stars — including Lisa Lopes and Kurt Cobain — as part of this Dragonfly clothing photo shoot.

Popsquire’s perspective…

California law generally prohibits commercial use of a celebrity’s likeness without consent.  Courts have interpreted this prohibition to include a voice impression and even impersonation by a robot.

Popsquire ponders…

Like a good lawyer, Popsquire has compiled a list of questions to ask Oxygen, Janice and/or Dragonfly in order to better analyze the situation:

1. What was the intended use of the celeb impersonator photographs?
2. Did Dragonfly obtain permission to use the celebs’ likeness on its website or catalog?
3. Did Janice or Oxygen inquire whether Dragonfly had obtained permission?
4. Did anyone make a profit from the celeb impersonator pics?
5. Did anyone make any effort to distinguish the looks of the models from the celebs invoked by them?

Answers, please.  Don’t keep Popsquire waiting.  He can be very impatient…