Question

Peterson Corporation wanted to run an ad campaign that featured popular songs sung by the original singer. The aim was to make an emotional connection with people who remembered the songs. When Bette was approached to sing for the commercial, she refused saying she did not “do” commercials. Peterson Corporation still wanted to use the song, so they hired a backup singer for Bette and she was told to “sound as much as possible like the Bette record.” The backup singer did the commercial, and people, even close acquaintances of Bette, thought it was her. Bette sued Peterson Corporation for wrongfully appropriating her likeness. Please give a definition of misappropriation. Is this a valid example of misappropriation? Why or why not.

Answer 1

Misappropriation is the unauthorized use of someone's title, name, identity without that individual's consent, for one's personal gains or resulting in harm to that person.

This case is an example of misappropriation. This is the right of a Bette whose identity has a commercial value to control the commercial use of their identity, in this case her voice. When her voice can identify them, the right of publicity protects them from imitators who may use their voice for commercial purposes without the famous person’s consent. In this case,Bette probably had a right of publicity and had a right to control the commercial use of her voice. If they had her consent, it would not be the case, and even if they had not used a similar sounding voice, the case for misappropriation would have been weaker.