Lawsuit Risks?

Nemo of Utopia

Nemo of Utopia

CHYOA Guru
Ok, I'm not suggesting we ban anything here, (yet, ) but could the site be held liable in a court of law for infringement of personal identity or however the courts would phrase it for all those "rape Emma Watson" stories floating around and their ilk? I'm not talking "dominate Hermione Granger", that's clearly fan-fic parody, and thus fair use, but these actresses are actual living people, and the law is different there...
 
Celebrities are fun.

Bear in mind, I have basically no interest in celeb fic. But, is Emma Watson, or Scarlett Johansson, or Marilyn Monroe a real person?

Well, yes, obviously all are really people.

But, are the stories that use their names, the sounds and letters that produce their names, about their persons?

As poorly written and characterized as so many of them are, one begins to wonder where shit quality ends and where physical and mental reality begins.

Because, they are so, so very far separated.

I read an Emma Watson (getting anally ravaged) story, and I don't know Emma any better than I do now.

Which is, not at all.
 
Nemo of Utopia said:
Post-graduation, I guess? Because I've seen several of those...
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There might be some of them as well, though if you write 5 chapters about getting the first wand and choosing the house or describing the first flying lesson, erotic scenes will most likely feature underage characters.
 
Nemo of Utopia said:
Yes, but "name and likeness" is a very strong legal concept, I'm not sure here but we might be on the hook for Lible...
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Less so with celebrities, ironically. Defamation suits are notoriously difficult for public figures due to the (added) prerequisite of actual malice being established. Added to the fact that fan fiction is (by its very definition) fabricated, and it becomes almost impossible to make something stick.

Admittedly, I don't think citing legal precedent is the best argument in (what is largely) a morally contentious issue. But if that's what's being used as the basis for a potential content ban, then rest assured it shouldn't be.
 
IANAL, but from what I understand one of the major criteria for defamation is actual harm.

I remember back in the day Penthouse publishing extremely detailed sexual fantasies regarding Gates McFadden which had no basis in fact. Never got sued.

Yeah, a jerk with an axe to grind CAN sue, but lawyers don't like suing poor people. As soon as it get TOO popular, then they go after you. Just keep it low key, and you should be cool, IMHO.
 
Don't know about the legalities, but I find stories about real people to be kind of icky. Particularly if the story involves assault, degradation, humiliation, etc. It feels too real. To each their own I guess.
 
I would imagine that most celebrities would be aware of the Streisand Effect, summarized as: "a phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the internet." In a nutshell, the attempt to shut down such websites would result in drawing far more attention to them, and spreading the stories around to the point where they could no longer be removed even if the legal case was won.

I am decidedly not a fan of such stories, but the odds are very low that lawsuits will result from them.
 
I think that you can't really compare that with the Streisand Effect as it mainly bases on the tries to suppress reporting about illegal or morally questionable activity.

In the case of celeb stories, the shitstorm might blow into the other direction. (If someone gets accused of sexual or child abuse, there are usually more victims (if existant) who finally pick up the courage to raise their voice.)

Also, depending on the place of residence, the content might be subject to limitations of freedom of speech and freedom of art.
 
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