Porn Stars
For those who have not been following, Internet sensation Denise Milani (who used to work as a masseuse, but unfortunately not a provider) has spent 2010 in court, battling over the rights to her website. Her site-pimp decided he owned all the rights to her likeness, pics, videos, and money.
It's an interesting case, since Jenna Jameson broke away from Wicked to do her own Club Jenna;
and several porn stars have broken away (Tera Parrick, Tabitha Stevens, Lisa Ann) to do their own business, even though they continue to freelance out to Brazzers, et al.
But the court rulings in the Milani case will be interesting for the porn stars, many of whom are on this site, because of the nature of the disagreement between the two parties, and how the courts have ruled in Milani's favor over the rights she retains to the Denise Milani persona and exploitation of that likeness.
Has anyone, be it hobbyist, provider, mod, or reader, followed the case? And if so, what are your thoughts?
First, let me say I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv or the Internet. 
I *have* studied some law though.
A lot of what eventually happens will depend a lot on facts I just don't have access to. For example, who hired whom? Who created what and was it a "work for hire"?
In the past, a lot of actresses, models, and other people have sued to regain or retain their rights over their name, their image, and their creations and they've won. I know many who regained ownerships of their websites and have gotten monetary damages. On the other hand, there have been people who have lost the battle based on who actually created the character, image, or whatever and whether or not it was their own work or a "work for hire".
I don't know if you remember but when David Letterman was on NBC after The Tonight Show, there was a character on the show "Larry Bud Melman". When Letterman moved to CBS the character was on the first show. NBC sued claiming they owned all of the rights to the character despite the fact that Letterman, his staff, and the actor all actually created the character. NBC eventually won on the basis that anything that Letterman or his staff created on his show was "work for hire" and NBC owned the rights. Letterman was forced to stop using the character.
So, at this point, it'd be hard to say what will happen in this case without knowing all the facts. Personally, I hope she wins. As a former computer programmer who used to do websites, guys like these guys give the rest of us a bad name.
The best thing that could come out of this is to make all of the porn stars, models, actresses, etc. take a long, hard look at what they are currently doing, what their contracts actually say, and talk to a lawyer to protect themselves so they don't end up in a similar situation.
