"Clones, Bones and Twilight Zones: Protecting the Digital Persona of the Quick, the Dead and the Imaginary"
Joseph Beard · bepress Legal Repository · 2001
This article explores a developing technology-the creation of digital replicas of individuals, both living and dead, as well as the creation of totally imaginary humans.The article examines the various laws, including copyright, sui generis, right of publicity and trademark, that may be employed to prevent the creation, duplication and exploitation of digital replicas of individuals as well as to prevent unauthorized alteration of existing images of a person.With respect to totally imaginary digital humans, the article addresses the issue of whether such virtual humans should be treated like real humans or simply as highly sophisticated forms of animated cartoon characters.