Can I build a fence around myself?

You may probably remember "The Pie" episode from Seinfeld, in which Seinfeld's girlfriend refuses to share a pie with him. Anyway, there's this small part integrated within the episode where Elaine gets freaked out with a mannequin that looks exactly like her. Incase you didn't catch this one episode, here's a little excerpt which I credit to http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/ThePie.html

KRAMER: (to the gang) There's a clothing store downtown. They got a mannequin in there that looks exactly like Elaine.
ELAINE: Get out!
KRAMER: It's uncanny! It's like they chopped off your arms and legs, dipped you in plastic, and screwed you back all together, and stuck you on a pedestal. It's really quite exquisite.

STRANGER: Do I know you?
ELAINE: Hmm… No you don't.
STRANGER: Yeah! You were wearing a G-string and one of those bras with points.
ELAINE: The mannequin!

(Jerry and Elaine enter and see the mannequin getting spanked by another mannequin)
JERRY: Boy, the resemblance is uncanny.
(Elaine goes to the saleswoman)
ELAINE: You think you can pose me however you want? That's my ass in your window!
SALESWOMAN: It's our store and our mannequin, we can do whatever we want with it.
ELAINE: No! You take down that mannequin right now, or I'm pressing charges. (Jerry goes along) Yes, this is my attorney.
SALESWOMAN: (to Jerry) Yeah? What law am I breaking?
JERRY: Well, I believe there's some legal precedent – Winchell vs. Mahoney,
ELAINE: Uh-huh
JERRY: The Charlie McCarthy hearings.
ELAINE: Uh-huh. Are you taking this down?
SALESWOMAN: I'm getting the manager. (she leaves)

RICKY'S BOSS: Ricky, we've been getting a tremendous response to your TR-6 mannequin.
RICKY: TR-6? I prefer to think of her as… Elaine.

Just thought I should add in the fact that Paul Winchell is a ventriloquist and Jerry Mahoney his wooden dummy. As for Charlie McCarthy, "he" is a puppet of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.

Well, I thought this small section on resemblance possibly sprouted from the case of White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (1993). Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune, sued Samsung, citing Samsung infringed her right of publicity by "appropriating" her "identity" in an advertisement which starred a robot dressed in a wig, gown, and jewelry implicative of White's hair and dress.

I remember catching this particular Seinfeld episode sometime last year I think (Yes, I'm slow). As usual I didn't give it much thought and just laughed my way through. So when Dr. Halavais mentioned about appropriation, this somehow popped in my head. Clearly, Elaine's privacy has been violated. If you were her, you too wouldn't want your face on a mannequin, free to be dressed and posed in any manner.

One thing which I can say is that there's tons of laws out there, protecting rights of which some I don't even know exist. When law students reply that they READ law, you can be sure that's exactly what they are doing!

Many of us scramble through the Internet or seek legal advice after suspecting that our rights are violated. At times we may not even know we've been infringed. There's so much factual information on intellectual property laws, privacy laws, and appropriation statute which I cannot all cite onto this post. Not to say you'll be tired out by the length, I'd get finger-cramps from cutting and pasting, and citing. Instead I shall leave a few of the links below.

§ 652C Appropriation of Name or Likeness. Restatement of the Law, Second, Torts, § 652 Copyright (c) 1977, The American Law Institute

Photographer's Guide To Privacy: New York

Privacy and Publicity Rights