American Irony - the book

Blurb is great. I've made several books with them. I'm doing a Tinyvette book for our team, but they don't know it yet.

Edit - I ordered one. Thanks.

I don't think that's quite true. Sure, Rule 1.7 says that you sign away all your rights to publicity, but only to Lemons HQ itself , not to every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the planet:

"You and your brilliant, pithy utterances may be photographed, recorded, or otherwise reproduced and re-used whenever and wherever the heck the Organizers like...."

That said, I agree with your sentiment. Unfortunately, the law regarding the right to publicity varies from state to state, which is why you see all the blurred out faces and taped-over logos on reality TV shows like Mythbusters. Which sucks, from an aesthetic standpoint.

I suspect that Lemons HQ might be able to expand the wording of Rule 1.7, but I don't know how much scrutiny that would stand up to in a court of law.

There is a way to kind of get around this by forming a single-purpose corporation that would be the owner/copyright holder of the work (or works, if he wants to do a series of Lemons books), and then if someone were to sue the entity, what are they going to get? But that involves probably more corporate formation paperwork, fees, etc. than most small book authors are willing to invest (or should have to, frankly, but that's editorializing).

I've thought about this, and it isn't really any different than all these photos of people being on Flickr that a lot of people here post links to.  My original post also said that there was no profit on this book.  The price people pay is what blurb.com charges, not me.  That said, if some a-hole doesn't get this and wants to sue me, I don't feel like paying all the costs involved to defend myself.  Plus, Blago's lawyer might be busy for a while.

All that said, send me an e-mail if you think you might want a copy for your own private use and entertainment without the express written consent of Major League Baseball.

The easiest way around this is for Coco to be one of the organizers of the event.  If he is formally associated with them as part of the organization then the publication release we sign covers him.

As captain of TBP, I authorize you to use our names and likenesses. Now, get the other team captains to do the same, and you're set. Mostly. Where's my copy?

Team Tinyvette hereby authorizes you all to use photos and video of the car and it's captain (can't speak for other members), and Phtotoshopped derivatives, in pretty much anything except kiddie porn, material support for terrorists, being mean to dogs, or anything that would bring the IRS to my door.

As does Team Lebowski!!!

Team Spec Junk Racing has signed off....  Hell, my "Drag" race was on Youtube that Monday.  I don't think there's anything else you can publish to top that!

Eric
the 323 Mx-3