N.Y. Minor Wants to Take Facebook to 'Class'

Image via WikipediaNastro v. Facebook, Inc. (Case No. 11-cv-2128), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York this week, seeks class action status against social media deep-pocket Facebook, Inc., for allegedly using the images of minors for a commercial purpose without parental consent, in violation of N.Y. Civil Rights Law.

As first reported by Bloomberg News, the suit concerns the thumbs-up "Like" icon. Facebook's use of social ads, dating back to 2007, purportedly displays the images and names of minors who click their support of products and events, and is also displayed when a user RSVPs for an advertised event, and on friends' home-page feeds.  The suit seeks damages for alleged revenues derived from the purported unauthorized commercial use of the minors' names and images.

In August 2010, suit was filed in a Los Angeles County Superior Court against Facebook for alleged violation of California law that prohibits using minors to endorse products and services, again, hinging on the users clicking the "Like" icon. (See "TUOL" post 8/30/10.)

A Lawsuit Facebook Doesn't 'Like'

Image via CrunchBaseAgence France-Presse reports that a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeks cash damages from social media behemoth Facebook for allegedly violating California law that prohibits commercially using minors to endorse products and services.


The lawsuit contends that parental or guardian consent is required before minors can click on Facebook's thumbs-up  "Like" icon to endorse online advertising content.  An attorney whose firm participated in filing the action accused Facebook of deriving illegal profits by charging advertisers for the use of minors' names and photographs. State law holds that minors cannot give legal consent.


Facebook plans vigorously to contest the lawsuit that it dismisses as meritless.

'Mean Girl' Lohan Sues Over Baby Commercial

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Actress and tabloid queen Lindsay Lohan has filed suit in her native New York against the underwriting and securities brokerage company known for its popular "talking baby" commercials.

Lohan, 23,  filed a $100 million suit Monday in the state Supreme Court of Nassau County (Lohan v. E*Trade Securities, LLC, Case No. 004579/2010), alleging that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based subsidiary of  E*Trade Financial Corp. appropriated her name and characterization in a television ad produced by Grey Group that aired during the Super Bowl. The ad depicts two squabbling "talking" babies acting like "20-somethings." The female baby complains that the male didn't telephone her the previous evening. He claims he was preoccupied on E*Trade, "taking control like a wolf."  The female baby asks: "And that milkaholic Lindsay wasn't over?", which prompts another female baby to jump into the frame next to the male and angrily exclaim: "Milk-a-what?"

Lohan, who was jailed for a day in 2007, ordered to take an alcohol education program and placed on probation after copping to drunk driving and cocaine possession, claims the baby "Lindsay" in the commercial is a parody of her life and that viewers know baby "Lindsay" is meant to be her, much as the public would recognize other one-name celebrities, such as Cher, Madonna and Oprah. Grey Group contends Lindsay is a popular name shared by a member of its account team, after whom the ad's talking baby purportedly is named.

Lohan is seeking $50 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in exemplary damages for the alleged violation of New York Civil Rights Law Sections 50 and 51. The statutes prohibit the use of a living person's name, picture or portrait for advertising or trade purposes without the individual's consent, and provide criminal penalties and the right to injunctive relief and damages. Lohan wants to prevent the ad from being shown again and seeks every existing copy of the ad. E*Trade has yet to respond to the lawsuit.

It's questionable whether Lohan's acting accomplishments and carryings-on as reported in supermarket tabloids and newspaper gossip pages have earned her the single-name recognition of a Madonna or an Ichiro. Borrowing from the freckle-faced, redhead's filmography, one wonders from the lawsuit whether it was Herbie who was "loaded" and whether her most notorious box office dud should be retitled: "I Know Who Killed My Career."

Doctored Livingston (Profile) I Presume

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Actor Ron Livingston, 42, best-known for his role as Peter in cult comedy "Office Space" (1999), has sued Wikipedia in Los Angeles Superior Court for libel, invasion of privacy, and appropriation because an unknown individual allegedly has repeatedly altered Livingston's Wikipedia page to suggest he is involved in a gay relationship with Hollywood casting director Lee Dennison, celebrity Web site TMZ reports.

The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native, who married actress Rosemary DeWitt earlier this year, claimed the hacking of his Wikipedia page began in May. According to the Complaint, whenever the rumored relationship with Dennison was deleted, the anonymous hacker would restore it on Livingston's Wikipedia page.  The same individual purportedly created a false Facebook page suggesting that Livingston and Dennison were in a relationship.

Livingston, who appeared on several episodes of  "Sex and the City" as Sarah Jessica Parker's boyfriend, is currently filming "Dinner for Schmucks," according to the Internet Movie Database Web site.