4 ms·

Matthew McConaughey trademarks himself to fight AI misuse

33 points by busymom0 9mo ago

balderdash 9mo ago
It feels like one's likeness should be automatically assumed to be trademarked (or be trademarked by right through legislation)
- tracker1 9mo ago
  So nobody raised in a similar culture developing effectively an indistinguishable voice or happens to look the same can be allowed to live/work?
  - Nevermark 9mo ago
    That isn't how trademark law works. The line is if the symbols/works are used in a context so they clearly intentionally, or by unnecessary/unreasonable lack of care, create confusion. Someone who looks and sounds like McConaughey just being themselves isn't a violation. Look at existing trademarks. They are riddled with high similarity filings, but they co-exist as long as they are not used to create confusion. The bar for any enforcement would be very high for humans, simply looking and behaving like themselves. But if someone very much like McConaughey was used in a commercial portraying a fictional "famous actor", that wouldn't go over. Unless ... it was clearly a parody. Or in fact, they are also an actor, and small signals indicate which actor, avoiding reasonable confusion problems. Or any other reasonable mitigations are taken. McConaughey couldn't even sue a movie about him, with reenactments of real incidents in his life, using an actor naturally/made-up to look nearly indistinguishable, as long as it was clear the actor was not McConaughey. (Using computers to create an exact likeness might be challengeable, depending on the specifics - as they would essentially be lifting his face directly from him. Which gets into the realm of unreasonable, because it wouldn't be a reasonable requirement of any bio to go that far.)
    - tracker1 9mo ago
      There have been lawsuits win where an actor looks or sounds like a famous actor already.
      - Nevermark 9mo ago
        The specifics on those kinds of lawsuits are going to matter a lot.
1123581321 9mo ago
He keeps getting older, but the frontier models stay the same age.
nine_zeros 9mo ago
[dead]
pandama 9mo ago
I think the parody law would make this moot. Unless he's made to be selling something, I'd imagine him being a public figure would make the trademarks meaningless.
- tracker1 9mo ago
  I keep thinking that I want to see a "parody" of "James Bond (007)" called "Chad Bond (00G)" that is effectively classic bond style, but American and not any more campy than the earlier bond films were. Just actually being a classic Bond style, instead of a "for modern audiences" reshaping.
1vuio0pswjnm7 9mo ago
Text-only: https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1UaVvt https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1UaVvt
ChrisArchitect 9mo ago
non-paywall WSJ source from earlier: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/matthew-mcconaughey-trademarks-himself-to-fight-ai-misuse-8ffe76a9?st=ZzwAGr https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/matthew-mcconaughey-trademarks-h...
ChrisArchitect 9mo ago
As with most things around AI, the problem is the scale. We are not ready for the amount of cease & desist court cases around individual likeness etc that are going to start flooding and overwhelming the system.
1vuio0pswjnm7 9mo ago
Meanwhile he has been doing TV ads for "AI" for years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4JNLL7U8H8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4JNLL7U8H8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-35QjvFEmhE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-35QjvFEmhE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvG41iEXFrU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvG41iEXFrU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqmBcqDkyw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqmBcqDkyw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI2cBdo0XDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI2cBdo0XDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKDYQJ1QwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKDYQJ1QwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-9IqXij9Xk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-9IqXij9Xk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OHD4sqCE3w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OHD4sqCE3w
tracker1 9mo ago
I'm mixed on this... there are always other actual people that will have matching voices or looks. Are they now effectively illegal for looking/sounding like they do? IIRC, works have been sued for actors looking/sounding like other voice actors.

33 points by busymom0 9mo ago

It feels like one's likeness should be automatically assumed to be trademarked (or be trademarked by right through legislation)

tracker1 9mo ago
So nobody raised in a similar culture developing effectively an indistinguishable voice or happens to look the same can be allowed to live/work?
- Nevermark 9mo ago
  That isn't how trademark law works. The line is if the symbols/works are used in a context so they clearly intentionally, or by unnecessary/unreasonable lack of care, create confusion. Someone who looks and sounds like McConaughey just being themselves isn't a violation. Look at existing trademarks. They are riddled with high similarity filings, but they co-exist as long as they are not used to create confusion. The bar for any enforcement would be very high for humans, simply looking and behaving like themselves. But if someone very much like McConaughey was used in a commercial portraying a fictional "famous actor", that wouldn't go over. Unless ... it was clearly a parody. Or in fact, they are also an actor, and small signals indicate which actor, avoiding reasonable confusion problems. Or any other reasonable mitigations are taken. McConaughey couldn't even sue a movie about him, with reenactments of real incidents in his life, using an actor naturally/made-up to look nearly indistinguishable, as long as it was clear the actor was not McConaughey. (Using computers to create an exact likeness might be challengeable, depending on the specifics - as they would essentially be lifting his face directly from him. Which gets into the realm of unreasonable, because it wouldn't be a reasonable requirement of any bio to go that far.)
  - tracker1 9mo ago
    There have been lawsuits win where an actor looks or sounds like a famous actor already.
    - Nevermark 9mo ago
      The specifics on those kinds of lawsuits are going to matter a lot.

1123581321 9mo ago

He keeps getting older, but the frontier models stay the same age.

nine_zeros 9mo ago

[dead]

pandama 9mo ago

I think the parody law would make this moot. Unless he's made to be selling something, I'd imagine him being a public figure would make the trademarks meaningless.

tracker1 9mo ago
I keep thinking that I want to see a "parody" of "James Bond (007)" called "Chad Bond (00G)" that is effectively classic bond style, but American and not any more campy than the earlier bond films were. Just actually being a classic Bond style, instead of a "for modern audiences" reshaping.

1vuio0pswjnm7 9mo ago

Text-only: https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1UaVvt https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1UaVvt

ChrisArchitect 9mo ago

non-paywall WSJ source from earlier: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/matthew-mcconaughey-trademarks-himself-to-fight-ai-misuse-8ffe76a9?st=ZzwAGr https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/matthew-mcconaughey-trademarks-h...

ChrisArchitect 9mo ago

As with most things around AI, the problem is the scale. We are not ready for the amount of cease & desist court cases around individual likeness etc that are going to start flooding and overwhelming the system.

1vuio0pswjnm7 9mo ago

Meanwhile he has been doing TV ads for "AI" for years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4JNLL7U8H8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4JNLL7U8H8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7W__UoPyh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-35QjvFEmhE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-35QjvFEmhE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvG41iEXFrU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvG41iEXFrU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqmBcqDkyw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqmBcqDkyw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI2cBdo0XDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI2cBdo0XDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKDYQJ1QwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKDYQJ1QwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-9IqXij9Xk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-9IqXij9Xk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OHD4sqCE3w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OHD4sqCE3w

tracker1 9mo ago

I'm mixed on this... there are always other actual people that will have matching voices or looks. Are they now effectively illegal for looking/sounding like they do? IIRC, works have been sued for actors looking/sounding like other voice actors.