Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Massachusetts

Re: possible copyright infringment

The answer to your question is unclear based on the facts you've given. What was the nature of the "private event"? How "adult" is the "adult section" of the local widely read newspaper? What is the nature of the picture posted? Are children involved at all in this "adult section" of the widely read local paper? Would the paper be available to children in the readers' homes? Is your friend famous? These are just some of the questions that would need to be answered before anyone can attempt to answer your question.

Can your friend be sued? Anyone can sue anyone over anything at any time. Your question should be Would your friend win a lawsuit brought against him based on these pictures published in the widely read local newspaper? To that question I cannot, without a lot more information, even guess at the answer.

I recommend your friend hire an intellectual property attorney who handles rights of publicity to handle this matter for him. There are piles of IP lawyers around the 128 rim (Waltham has more than its share of firms, I believe, and there's a good one in Concord) or in Boston and Cambridge (price considerations would take me out of the cities, though; the outlying firms don't have city overhead to pay, so they may have more reasonable fees).

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