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Mob Wives Star's Suit Sparks New Look at NY Publicity Rights
Earlier this year, former Mob Wives TV star Karen Gravano filed a right-of-publicity lawsuit against the makers of the Grand Theft Auto V video game, claiming they misappropriated her image and life story for a character in the popular video game. Gravano v. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., 151633/2014 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. County). Media lawyers took notice because this case is one more in a string of recent cases raising a significant common question: To what extent does the law protect the rights of content creators ' writers, filmmakers, musicians, visual artists, photographers, and yes, video-game makers ' to draw on real-life individuals and events to create expressive works?
For years, this was a relatively settled issue particularly in New York and creators took comfort that they were largely protected from right-of-publicity claims. This status quo has been upended with a growing spate of successful suits against expressive works elsewhere in the country. Will Gravano's action introduce the same confusion to New York's relatively settled law?
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