Celebrities...and the Law.

Not quite what you're expecting, I'm afraid. No juicy gossip about why Lin**ay Lo*an's back in rehab.

No, this is about the simple fact that copyright law has taken celebrities away from the public forum. Gone are the days where famous characters and people belonged to the people. Nowadays, they belong to the corporations, and the common man has no access to them.

Take for example, the Barbie in a Blender case that Mattel made against Tom Forsythe in 1999. He was creating artwork, but Mattel instantly called him on infringement of copyright, which the courts overturned. Surprisingly, even they believed that it was frivolous of Mattel to claim on such a minor issue.

Even now, many years after that case, companies are still strong-arming those that would try to use their copyrighted icons, and are attempting to protect themselves by making their ever-changing terms even stricter.

Another example, Blizzard Entertainment's EULA (End-User License Agreement): It states that nothing you do or create via the use of an Blizzard software belongs to the creator; that it instantly becomes the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment. On top of that, Blizzard goes on to note that you don't even own the CD/DVDs that you paid for, claiming that they're just leased to you for an indeterminate term, and that Blizzard reserves the right to change their systems or charge more for their products at any time.

What's worse?

They can get away with it. Challenge the multi-billion dollar company and you'll get powered out of court by their army of lawyers and unimaginably deep pockets.