[Clipart] celebrity image

[Greg Bulmash]

Perhaps there needs to be a special warning on such pages, stating that 
while the image itself is public domain with respect to copyright, 
images of famous people carry other restrictions and you should consult 
an attorney before using it in commercial projects.

I don't believe that such images should be rejected, because they do 
have a lot of legitimate uses.  But beyond a "consult an attorney" 
disclaimer, I don't know how much more you can do.  Heck, most people 
still write in and ask for permission to use the images because they 
won't RTFM.

You could put up 50 point blinking red letters, and some people would 
miss them.

Add the disclaimer to the image description/page, and let it go.

John Olsen wrote:

> This is one of those fuzzy areas of the law still being sorted out.   
> In the US it is perfectly acceptable for an artist to create a  
> recognizable image of another person.  One court decision excerpt:  
> "The court held that Sections 50 and 51 had no application because an  
> "artist may make a work of art that includes a recognizable likeness  
> of a person without her or his written consent and sell at least a  
> limited number of copies thereof" without violating the statute. The  
> court also declared in dicta that works of art, including sculptures,  
> were deserving of First Amendment protection that superseded the right  
> of privacy."
> 
> The only problem I see is in use by someone taking the image from  
> here.  If the image was used for publicity purposes or to make money  
> based on the fame of the person, then the user would be in violation.  
> It might be easy enough to solve this by renaming the file with a  
> vague name - "Hollywood actress" or just "Sandra".  Thoughts?