Steve wrote:

Shane wrote: "Could be that Sally just didn't like the way the pictures

made her

look. For actors, their bodies are their instruments, their means of making their

living.

Whether they're hired or not often depends on how they look in a picture.

So if

she sees a picture which she thinks goes against her image, and might make

it hard

for her to get work, she'd have every right to ask for it to be removed."

Unless, as Annie suggested, she had some contract re the actual photos

with the

photographer, she would have no legal right at all.

Legal rights aren't at issue here. Rights of common decency are. Would you jeopardise your chances of having an actor come back to your convention just because you want to argue legal rights with her?

rights to your own image law does exists in the US I believe and can come

into

play here (someone who knows US law a bit better may be able to explain),

but

there is no equivalent law in the UK yet, though the government is

thinking about

this.

As for the consequences of this lack... well, just ask Princess Diana.

Shane said: "didn't Lalla Ward successfully sue a men's magazine a few years ago over faked-up nude photos of herself?"

Don't know about this, but it is possible that she did this under libel

laws. If

they altered her image to make it look like she would do something she

would not

normally do and could be said to be damaging to her character, then she

does have

a case under libel laws.

The defense rests. Prosecution opens: yes, it is possible under the current libel laws to sue someone for an altered image or explicit artwork, if you can prove that it has caused you emotional distress and damage, potential or actual, to your career. What it comes down to is whether a jury can be convinced as to this distress and damage, and in this case, they clearly can. So in other words, if an actor did want to sue over a fan image which they felt was damaging to their career and/or their emotional well-being, then they jolly well could, regardless of people's hair-splitting about copyright ownership and rights of publicity, and the person being sued could incur considerable damages.

Shane

"They die quickly now..." -Dorian

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