Right of Publicity

John Hancock's signature. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday, I watched an episode from a TV program that followed the exploits of a fictional law firm.  In that episode, the “young-hero attorneys” represented a client who had been defamed by a movie that was made about him.  Unfortunately, because the client had a public persona he could not hope to successfully sue for defamation, unless he could prove that the movie producers had acted maliciously when they depicted him in a false light.  Because malice is extremely difficult to prove, it’s virtually impossible for anyone who is even a little bit famous (has a public persona) to sue for defamation.

But, as always–the young-hero attorneys had another trick up their sleeve–they’d sue the movie producers under their client’s “right of publicity“.

“Right of publicity”?  What th’ heck is that?  I’d never heard of it before.  But the “bells” went off instantly and I felt compelled to research that subject.  I didn’t know what “right of publicity” meant, but I was instantly compelled by the Good LORD or intuition to do more research.

 

Pledges of Servitude?

Image via Wikipedia

A friend of mine (Rick) is facing charges for four traffic tickets.  He sent a copy of his defense to me.  It’s pretty good.  It’s not exactly what I’d do, but nothing is.

But I did notice one omission that struck me as potentially important:  In challenging the gov-co’s authority, Rick had denied that he’s a slave or subject to involuntary servitude (as prohibited by the 13th Amendment) but he neglected to deny that he had entered into a voluntary servitude (a fiduciary relationship) with the court, plaintiff, prosecutor, state, real party in interest, or even to the actual defendant “RICK DOE” (rather than “Rick Doe”) etc.

I can’t prove it, but I strongly suspect that the system relies on the presumption that each living man or woman (“Alfred Adask”) has knowingly entered into a voluntary servitude as fiduciary for the government, the plaintiff and/or the defendant identified by the all-upper-case name (“ALFRED N ADASK”).

I sent Rick an email reply that outlines some of my notions in greater detail–especially relative to pledges.  My understanding of “pledges” is rudimentary but growing. My email reply follows: