Clare hurler to sue Clare People newspaper over image rights

[Minder]

Source - Sunday Times 20/1/08

I have kept this in main board as it is relevant to both codes.

Has anyone heard this story? Diarmuid Mc Mahon is due in court this Thursday in Ennis District Court taking legal action against the Clare People newspaper. The Clare newspaper used Mc Mahons image as part of a photo montage that was used on promotional flyers. MCc Mahon claims the image was used without his permission and without compensation. His case has been strongly backed by the GPA.

[Hardy]

God help us.

[fcuksake]

He must be a right p***k.....

[inisceithleann]

This fella may have a case here but it's going to be very dificult for him to succeed. The case of Irish sportsman Eddie Irvine and Talksport was a milestone in this area and courts held that sportsmen and other celebrities could use the law of passing off to prevent companies riding on the back of their success to sell goods. Prior to this there was little protection as courts held that there was no copyright in any image or facial features. But one of the big elements to be satisfied in a claim for passing off is that the claimant has a substantial goodwill. This is something McMahon will find extremely hard to establish.

[pintsofguinness]

He must be a right p***k.....

You can say that again.

Shouldn't these people be very careful, the reporting on GAA players private lives has never been acceptable but if they want to be treated like professional sports people in the public eye then so be it. 

I look forward to the day when the first juicy story hits the front page of a paper because it'll be what they deserve.

[clarshack]

what next? beggars belief.

[irunthev]

You are spot on Pints. It's all part of the way the GAA will go in the next few years. I mentioned this in a post a few weeks ago that things like this would start to happen and I got slaughtered by some on this board saying it was more anti-grants chat. The grants bother me, but not as much as the steps that follow it do. The grants are merely the first downward movement on a slippery slope and will lead to many other moves directed at players making more demands and trying to cash in on the GAA, as this point proves. The fact is that the GPA and many of the players now have their chests puffed out and are ready to take on the world, and with the help of a few smart solicitors who will be trying to make a name for themselves, they will do their best to change the status quo as much as possible.
Players feel empowered and think that they merely have to threaten a strike and they will be able to get away with whatever they want from now on in. They were given in to far too easily in this instance and the GAA and government panicked.
The vast majority of players are allowed to live their daily lives in total privacy and all the stories that follow them around locally never appear in print, the ones about whose shagging who ( because despite what the GPA try to tell us, the average GAA player still has time for a shag) and who got loaded on a night out, (because let's face it, it still happens from time to time, despite how professional the players do behave these days). It's almost like a gentleman's agreement that the press have imposed upon themselves. Mark my words, as greedy and as hungry as some of the GAA players have been portrayed to be lately, there are plenty of hungry, greedy ruthless hacks out there, who would sell their mother for a good story and a front page, and who wouldn't be long turning the heat up on some of the county players if they wanted, even if there was no real story to back it up, they could still make these player's lives miserable. I think as a nation we don't want that to happen, but the media will fight fire with fire if they feel it is warranted. As strong as the GAA is in Ireland, the media are even more powerful and I'm sure some of the non-nationalist Irish papers in the north would be quick to lead the way along with the traditional red tops down south.
Hopefully McMahon is a lone maverick in this, but if the players want to start to play hard ball, the tabloid hacks would be able to hit them out of the park standing on one leg. The average GAA player wouldn't know what had hit him if the press decided to stick their claws into them..

[Zulu]

Nope, I agree with you anyway.

[RadioGAAGAA]

Hopefully McMahon is a lone maverick in this, but if the players want to start to play hard ball, the tabloid hacks would be able to hit them out of the park standing on one leg. The average GAA player wouldn't know what had hit him if the press decided to stick their claws into them..

It may be a good thing.


Don't forget, the GPA rely on widespread support for the county players to force the grants through. Alot of that support will be generated by sympathetic media. If the media turn against, and start printing out stories about how much county boards are in debt paying for holidays to la manga etc... then public opinion will rapidly turn against the GPA and their cronies.

[Hardy]

I think you're spot on there, irunthev.

[Pangurban]

The way things are going, we could become the first organisation to die of success

[orangeman]

This GPA nonsense is really getting on my nerves - 

[gerry]

your are successfull in what you do be it gaa or golf, then one day you see a flyer with your face promoting a newspaper and you think to yourself wtf.  they are only using your image cause they, they know it will sell papers and make them money so why would you not want a piece of the action.

its not about GPA or pay for play or being amateur sport, its about some c@*t using you to line their pockets.

yet some posters are having a go at him. 

maybe we should get the mods to move this tread to "things that make you go what the feck"

[pintsofguinness]

His face was used in a photo montage and people will hardly run and buy the paper because his face is on a flyer.

Strictly he might have a right to complain but I think he's being very silly and indeed greedy to try and get a few pound out of this.  As I said earlier these players might want to remember the easy time they have from most of the media. 

[gerry]

His face was used in a photo montage and people will hardly run and buy the paper because his face is on a flyer.

so why would they use his image if it would not help them to sell their papers.

As I said earlier these players might want to remember the easy time they have from most of the media.

easy time from the media, trying to tell that to the ones that fell fowl from the red/green  tops