Question

1. Do you believe that an “identifying characteristic” should be protected by the tort of misappropriation, or do you believe that society has gone too far in recognizing property rights? A First Amendment exception exists for comedians who engage in satire and comedy (think of Saturday Night Live’s impersonations of the Trump-Clinton debates during the 2016 presidential campaign, for example). Does it make sense to you that comedians can make money through misappropriation, but other businesses cannot?

Answer 1

In my opinion, "identifying characteristic" should be protected by the tort of misappropriation because otherwise people will take advantage of the situation and find loopholes which might lead to identity theft, funds misappropriation, use of someone else's copyright material and pass it on as your own. Tort of misappropriation deals with these kind of situations only and it is extremely important to have "identifying characteristic" as part of the tort of misappropriation in order to protect the rights of privacy and copyright of content and information.

It doesn't make sense to me that comedians can make money through misappropriation but other businesses cannot. The laws should be common for all. The comedians should not be given any special privilege and should be governed by the First Amendment equally as other professionals are goverened. Other the governance shall be prohibited to all professions alike and no special privileges should be given to anyone.