Monday, May 4, 2009

Imposters Posting on Twitter and Other Social Networking Sites

Have you ever wondered if what you are looking at on myspace, facebook and other social networking sites were the actual site of a celebrity? Common sense usually dictates that it's not, especially if it's a big name celebrity. But now with Twitter we may not be so sure. Some of us heard the story about Ashton Kutcher egging on CNN about the number of subscribers. And then the story about Demi Moore communicating via Twitter to an individual that was about to commit suicide.

So are celebrities really hiding behind their online profiles after all? Accordingly comes the celebrity social networking site impersonators. Most recently, Televangelist Robert H. Schuller, whose audience reaches in the millions was vicitm to a bogus Twitter profile. The imposter profile attracted more than 1,000 followers in less than one week. The creator of the fake profile can easily spread rumors about the celebrity, or in the event of a televagelist request money from its follows. Schuller's legal team was quick to get Twitter to respond to remove the imposter profile. The biggest legal claim was probably that of Right of Publicity. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7176483

Trademark Attorney Michael N. Cohen's Blog

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