It’s been two years since Lindsay Lohan filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games for what she considered her likeness exploited in Grand Theft Auto V. Describing the GTAV character “Lacey Jonas” as an “unequivocal” reference, Lohan then went ahead and submitted a 67-page complaint which talked about “common interest among all celebrities, actors, singers, and athletes … to protect their likeness and personas from misappropriation by unscrupulous merchandisers.”
Now we’re in 2016 and it’s time for another development, with the lawsuit case having being thrown out court due to the game “not fall[ing] under the statutory definition of ‘advertising’ or ‘trade’.” As Grand Theft Auto V’s “unique story, characters, dialogue, and environment, combined with the player’s ability to choose how to proceed in the game” classes it as “a work of fiction and satire,” it can’t be targeted in this way. According to the Wall Street Journal, this ultimately means that the video game doesn’t fall under New York’s right-of-publicity law, on which the case hinged.
Reported by Bloomberg, Lohan’s lawyers and planning to appeal, so get ready for more years of fighting.
What do you make of this result?
[Source: Eurogamer, VG247, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg]
