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Right of Publicity - what constitutes "identity"?[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Trademark Forum ] [ FAQ ] Posted by Steve on October 30, 2003 at 14:47:57: I have read about how the Right of Publicity protects the use of a person's "name" or "likeness". However, everything I've read fails to accurately define those terms. Where is the line drawn at use of a name? For example, if I made a shirt that said: "We love Michael Jordan" Then that would obviously be infringing on his Right of Publicity. However, what about: "We love Jordan" From what I've read, it seems that last names can still be construed as violating someone's Right of Publicity, even though I could be talking about thousands of different Jordans. OK, so what about: "We love Mike" So what about this??? I could literally be talking about any one of a million different Mikes. Could any one of them challenge me for violating his Right of Publicity? Also, I'm talking about nothing but a blank shirt with text. I would assume that if I put Jordan's number, 23, on the shirt, then that would further clarify which Mike I was talking about and further put me at risk of violating Mr Jordan's Right of Publicity. Correct or not? Would the rest of my merchandise have any bearing on it? For example, if my place was called "The Name Store" and I had shirts with all kinds of "We love XXXX" shirts, would that be ok, whereas if my store was all Chicago Bulls-related merchandise, it wouldn't, because you could infer from the surrounding items that the Mike I'm referring to was Jordan. It seems almost ridiculous to think that a shirt could be acceptable in one setting but not in another. Is this the case? If anyone can give me links that clearly explain this, I'd be much appreciative.
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