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As reported by the Trademark Blog, Woody Allen is suing American Apparel for misappropriation of his name and likeness. Admittedly, it's not the heartland of citizen media, but it is a simple lesson on exactly what not to do with celebrity images. 

Another hat tip to Ron Coleman.

Breaking news -- TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington is suing Facebook for unauthorized use of his name and likeness. In apparent disregard of the tech blogger's publicity rights, the social networking giant has been allowing advertisers to post ads on user profiles using Arrington's picture and name to endorse their products without permission. Specifically, Arrington alleges that his image appeared in connection with ads for Blockbuster's new "Movie Clique" application and the movie Jackass 2.5.

From TechCrunch:

I am sad that this had to blow up to the point where we are publicly suing Facebook over the matter. We’ll be filing the lawsuit tomorrow along with a related civil case for assault and battery and infliction of emotional distress. In a round of negotiations over the lawsuit with Facebook led by Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly, things got out of hand. When our team of lawyers offered to settle for a mere $50 million, Kelly told me Facebook would “bury you and bury your crappy blog” if we filed the suit. He then threw his steaming hot triple soy latte espresso at me, which caused extensive second degree burns over the top half of my body. Later on, he also unfriended me.

Yep, you guessed it. April fools :) Sorry I didn't take the time to fabricate something out of whole cloth myself, but this was ready-made and too good to pass up.

As an avid baseball fan, I should have been paying closer attention to the recent dispute over Major League Baseball's new restrictions on credentialing journalists who cover MLB games. A nice summary of the dispute on the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press' Sidebar Blog awoke me from my slumber.

In a repeat of past efforts by MLB to limit the use of photographs and play-by-play coverage of games, the new 2008 press credentials:

• Limit to seven the number of photographs from each game that may be displayed online;


• Prohibit the use of game photographs as part of a photo gallery;


• Require prior written notice of the intention to display non-text accounts of games;


• Restrict the recording of audio and video from 45 minutes prior to a scheduled game until that game has concluded; and


• Restrict the length of time certain content may be made available or archived online.

Thankfully, the Online News Association, National Press Photographers Association, and others are fighting back. David Ledford, President of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, took MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to task over the new restrictions:   read more »