In the US you can just adopt a new name, so long as you're not doing it for a fraudulent purpose (and obviously not by stealing someone elses identity). In thi

In the US you can just adopt a new name, so long as you're not doing it for a fraudulent purpose (and obviously not by stealing someone elses identity). In this case, sure, he was ... _in the 1970s_. The initial name change was a crime but it was not a particularly significant one and it was a very long time ago. It appears that the ongoing modern use was completely harmless except for the fact that the real owner of the name was brought into the legal system over it. But why did that happen? You don't have to agree with my view on the identity theft to recognize that the question of why the real Mr. Woods was put under the thumb of the law is an interesting and relevant one.