Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York
I've been working on a film card game for ages but never looked at making it a commercial game because it features real actors and directors which would, I think be a legal minefield/prohibitively expensive (or indeed both)
However I was wondering what the situation was if you used
a. Caricature images with real names or
b. Caricature images with similar names or joke names e.g. Matt Mahogany
1 Answer from Attorneys
The real names and images of public figures can fall within the Fair Use Doctrine of Intellectual Property law, which allows use or depiction of public characters' names and/or likeness for satirical purposes. There is a fine line based on the actual content of these film card games and the purposes of its use and exploitation. I suggest consulting with an attorney prior to moving forward with this idea.