Saturday, March 3rd 2007
Woman sues Yahoo for using her picture without permission
A former model who now lives in Ohio recently signed up for a Yahoo Email account. This doesn't sound like anything special, however, it became very special the moment Yahoo sent the lady her first Email. She got an email full of tips on how to use the Yahoo account...with her picture on top. She is now suing Yahoo for $20 million USD. She is demanding $10 million for lost profits, and another $10 million to cover attorney fees and the like. The official complaint claims "that the image has been sent to millions of users around the world without Stovall's authorization, violating her right to privacy and right to publicity--that is, to control the commercial use of her identity".
Source:
CNET
23 Comments on Woman sues Yahoo for using her picture without permission
if that was the case people would be suing the newspapers daily but in this case i do agree if Yahoo made profit on this woman's picture then they should pay the woman but not anything like the silly amount she is asking for.
She is right...but she's also greedy
Perhaps they should charge her for the free advertising? Mebey their search engine found a pic of her and since the name was the same.........
Then again, that would all make sense. So in reality they must have infected her system with sub7 and got her pic (high res) from her webcam and used it to show that they (the servers) knew who she was. Where she lived, and what she was eating. Yep, that was it.
Anyway, $10m!!!! It's an insult to all the people that go and do a hard day's work, day in, day out, year in, year out.
While she MAY be due some money... I can see no justification for it being more than a few $1,000s and $10,000 tops.
As ancilliary points:
1./ Perhaps she is due NOTHING... since she may have been paid for the photoshoot already
2./ Should anyone get money for the way they look... or should their parents get the money... since, (well its a long argument)
3./ If she had any "jobs", e.g. face or boobs, perhaps its the plastic surgeon that deserves the money!
4./ I jolly well hope she loses the case and a basket of money. She's got her 15minutes of fame... and that's that
5./ Nobody has even heard of this woman... and she's pretty "regular looking". I ammend my first comment. Maximum payout, $5... the cost of a photobooth in the subway station.
had they used my pic i would have.
1. asked then WTF where you thinking?
2. told them i would let them use my image and even name for free high speed internet access and an up comming k10 cpu :P
3. asked them wtf they where thinking using my fatt ass on their promotional emails :P
However, this works the other way in the amounts she is claiming - she cant very well claim that the worldwide distribution of her likeness would cause her distress given its probably been used correctly and with permission by many others previously.