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26 March
2006
Paul Newman
Backs US Image Rights Bill
Actor
Paul Newman has joined calls for the
legislature in Connecticut to pass a law
protecting image rights.
Paul
Newman is among a group of actors backing
a bill banning the use of a person's image
or voice without consent for up to 70
years after their death.
Paul
Newman, who lives in the state, told a
state assembly hearing that technology
meant he could appear in "a whole movie"
without his permission.
Opponents
fear the bill will restrict filmmakers'
rights of expression.
Newman,
Sound
of Music
star Christopher Plummer and
Midnight
Run
actor Charles Grodin, all appeared before
the assembly's judiciary
committee.
Newman
said inexpensive computer software made it
possible to produce a new movie by
re-editing the original.
He said:
"They could make a whole movie that looked
like me, talked like me, acted like me,
sounded like me, but wasn't
me."
Plummer
said new technology had made it
increasingly possible for people's image
and voices to be used in material without
any prior warning.
"We are
suddenly being cloned into something we're
not," he said. "We are robbed of our
individuality and our life's work is
tarnished."
The bill
would forbid use of a person's "right of
publicity" without proper consent for
commercial purposes.
It would
take in a person's name, voice, signature,
image and mannerisms.
Nineteen
other states have passed similar
laws.
The
Motion Picture Association of
America,
which represents the major film studios,
opposes the bill.
Van
Stevenson, senior vice president for state
government affairs, said copyright laws
already covered some of the actors'
concerns.
He added
that the bill could prevent parodies of
famous people and restrict filmmakers from
using old footage.
"Our
position basically is, common law covers
this." he said.
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