Devinn Lane Files Suit Against Vivid, Digital Playground, Others

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by LizAEBN

I think this still goes back to nominative vs. fair use though - the studios have the right, based on a typical release, to use her name for promotional purposes. This does not preclude her right to use her trademarked name in a proprietary versus marginal way.

There's a marked difference in saying "Buy movies featuring StarName here" and "This is StarName's Site."

It begs the question - is a domain name an absolute indication of "the is star names site"?

Further, if you have a pornstar fan site, (say pornstarnamexxx.com) and you run a webmaster affiliate program, pornstarnamecash.com, and clearly state that this is NOT the official pornstar site just a fan site / cash program) at what point have you limited that star's rights to her name? After all, she signed away in the model releases the use of her name, image, likeness, etc for pretty much all purposes.

I can understand going after squatters, but somewhere along the line it conflicts with the rights she has granted to others (which may include the rights to transfer or re-grant those rights to others). It's not as easy as the lawyer types would like us to think.

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

I can understand going after squatters, but somewhere along the line it conflicts with the rights she has granted to others (which may include the rights to transfer or re-grant those rights to others). It's not as easy as the lawyer types would like us to think.

This is very true - but I suppose at this point, all we can do is wait and see what precedent is set.