Q&A: Copyright in a Person's Likeness
Copyright in a Person's Likeness
Question
Hello Rabbi, and happy holidays,
I recently heard about an advertisement in which a likeness of Tom Hanks appeared that was created by artificial intelligence. The figure perfectly imitates the actor’s appearance and voice. The creators of the advertisement did not ask Tom Hanks for any permission. Is there some offense involved here, or an infringement of Tom Hanks’s copyright? Maybe Tom Hanks created a kind of "brand" of himself, and they are using that brand without permission. Just like I’m not allowed to sell shoes and put a Nike logo on them.
Answer
You mean the rights of the Holy One, blessed be He, who created Tom Hanks. It doesn’t seem to me that there are any rights here.
Discussion on Answer
If it’s being used commercially, then really maybe yes.
In that connection, I heard that it is possible to train AI software to imitate singers and actors as well, in songs and films, by training the software specifically on that singer or actor. Is there copyright infringement in such a process? Because here the training is done not only on the person’s appearance, but also on his talents, like singing and acting, which are certainly the product of his own creation.
Here it definitely seems that there are rights.
But the one who poured content and great value into the persona of Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks himself. Without his hard work, his persona would not have been worth anything. Similarly, if I manufacture a smartphone and put a picture of an apple on it so that people will think it is from Apple, that would be an infringement of copyright, even though Apple did not invent the apple symbol—it was taken from nature—but they are the ones who invested the apple symbol with value and technological prestige.