It seems there have always been scandalous pictures and videos of celebrities. They capture public attention for a short period of time and then are either forgotten, or act as the basis for a career as a celebrity (AHEM, Kim Kardashian).
But the recent hack and publication of nude celebrity pictures seems to have stirred up more than just the usual voyeurism and obligatory discussion on ethics. Perhaps it is the number of celebrities involved, or the more intrusive hacking methods used, or the breadth of public access, or the flagrant posting of the pictures despite removal requests that makes this time different. Whatever the reason for the increased attention, the question really is, what now? What can the celebrities do? How can they make it stop?
There is a host of civil and criminal actions available. But it may be the very law that pays these celebrities’ salaries that will best serve to prevent future public intrusions into their private lives: copyright law.
Copyright protects the rights of creators and owners of the movies, television shows, and music that make these celebrities rich and famous. Under copyright law it is illegal to make or distribute copies of copyrighted works owned by someone else without permission.
The simple act of taking a picture, even a selfie, creates rights in the work. And a celebrity, just like anyone else, can create a copyrighted work in a photograph. The rights in the photograph can be held by the photographer, an entity, or the person being photographed (in the case of a work-made-for-hire). And just like anyone else, a celebrity potentially owns the rights to every picture stored on their phones, cameras, computers, smart cards, or cloud services. The difference, though, between a celebrity and anyone else is the market value for those pictures. And it is this difference that could prove most effective in ending the intentional publication of illegally obtained pictures or videos by unscrupulous website operators.
When polite takedown requests are ignored and lawsuits are laughed off, it’s time to hit ’em where it hurts: the pocket book. If pictures of celebrity weddings and babies are sold for millions, why shouldn’t two-time Academy Award winners and Sports Illustrated bikini models sue the sites posting their pics for the millions they would be worth if legitimately purchased by a media outlet? With each picture being a separate work worth millions, the potential liability to the posting sites goes up dramatically.
Aside from confirming ownership of rights, now is the time for these A-list celebrities to combine the full weight of their celebrity status and their rights under copyright law to send a clear message to the website operators posting copies of their private pictures. Of course they should use every legal action available, but it is the potential for being held liable for millions in copyright infringement that will really hurt the site operators. And, without a viable fair use defense in sight, the high cost of knowingly posting copies of illegally obtained and copyright protected pictures should hopefully prevent it from happening again.
Image: Irish Typepad / license