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Luke Littler Trademarks His Face. · Mark and Pete

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  Luke Littler trademarks his face.
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  Welcome to Mark and Pete, and today we're looking at a darts
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  player who's precious about his image, maybe for good reasons.
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  This is Mark and Pete, 2 blokes with half an opinion.
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  Now here's our first thought. The face of fame If you have a
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  favoured famous face that draws attention to give folk chase,
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  you just need a good hiding place.
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  So wear a paper bag just in case.
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  Well, yes indeed. What do you do when you're
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  famous and your image is so worth lots of millions of
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  pounds? Well, take the example of Luke
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  Littler. The youngest dance world
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  champion in history is applied to the Intellectual Property
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  Office to trademark his face. Now, many people will probably
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  be very familiar with the image of Luke Littler.
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  He has risen to fame in his profession.
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  Why is this important? Well, many people are concerned
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  that actually when you capture the image of a person, whether
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  they're famous sports star or a celebrity, it can actually mean
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  that other people can effectively hijack your image
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  rights. So what has Luke done
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  essentially is applying to have his image trademarked.
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  Mr. Pete, I think this is a very clever move, especially
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  commercially where he can apply his image to many different
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  things on darts merchandising. But where my thought to here is
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  this really sort of opens up the opportunity to many other
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  celebrities. Yes, Mr. Mark, some of them
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  maybe I'm just suggesting this maybe with more attractive faces
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  than Mr. Littler and, and, and not that he's not attractive, of
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  course, we're big fans of his on on this show.
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  But I, I, I think that his move there may well be aimed at
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  people using his image, maybe in deep fakes, you know, used in by
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  AI to produce things that he doesn't want to be associated
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  with. Because although it won't stop
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  people using it in the first place, if they're using it for
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  commercial reasons or, you know, some way attacking his
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  reputation, then it gives him the easier legal route to suing
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  them. So I think that may be more of
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  more of the motivation. However, yeah, being able to
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  have your have the rights to your own image, to your own face
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  does open open you up to if you're well known, there are
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  lots of commercial opportunities.
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  Luke Littler. Mug.
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  Well no, it wouldn't be mugs, but little tiny espresso cups
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  because of littler. What do you think?
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  Well, nuts to you. Yes, well.
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  Why impressed? Well, because yes, Luke Littler
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  has multiple brands such as KP Nuts and in fact he uses his
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  images on those sort of things. Of course, he uses them on darts
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  merchandising, but I think that there are many of the things
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  that he can apply his image to. But I think that the idea of
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  being able to do this is not an easy one to maintain.
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  Why? Well, here's the one of the
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  biggest threats, it's AI. Because often what can happen
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  is, is that things that many people can put into, you know, a
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  generic chat bot or something like that to create an image.
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  You will probably find that it'll draw upon various images
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  that are out there on the Internet and create one for
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  itself, meaning that it could simulate loot littler or any
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  other well known individual. Now, of course, one of the
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  things that's important here isn't just for the commercial
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  side, it's making sure that it's not misrepresented because
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  obviously loot wouldn't necessarily always want to be
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  applied to certain products or associated with certain things.
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  So the idea behind this is it gives him some kind of legal
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  standing. And I think that that's, that's
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  a good one. Now, I will say, Mr. Pete, that
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  of course I can sort of see an whole new world opening up for
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  lawyers, solicitors all around the world because it's
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  inevitable, isn't it, that somewhere there's going to be
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  legal claims. It is.
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  So in many ways it's not just about the individual.
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  It's about, you know, there are other associated professions
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  that could benefit here. Yes, they could.
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  Yeah. I mean, the idea of your image
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  has these sort of two sides to it, doesn't it?
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  In that it does mean, you know, physical pictures of you, But
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  your image is, you know, what people make of you, your
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  reputation. And in the Bible, it's a
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  Christian thought. It's said that humans are made
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  in the image of God. And the idea that you take your
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  image seriously because you meant you're effectively
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  representing God in the world is a way of saying that you that
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  you should be good and take your responsibilities seriously.
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  And if you're, if that image is then besmirched, of course, you
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  should also take that seriously. This concept is true, you know,
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  not just in Christianity, but many other religions, the
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  importance of, of your image and in in Eastern thought, I've
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  noticed saying, as listeners may not know I did.
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  I worked out in the Far East for some time and the idea of face
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  is very important there. The face being sort of the image
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  or reputation that is perceived so that if your reputation is
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  damaged, it's very, very important.
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  It's and, and this is something, something that has always
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  happened though, you know, people using people's images,
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  physical images to then besmirch someone's image.
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  But it used to be, you know, people holding up their hands to
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  the paparazzi and say, don't take my photo.
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  But now people it it's sort of don't generate my image, isn't
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  it? Because it can be done without
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  physical presence. So now we have the the situation
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  that this is necessary to do this.
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  It's more difficult to prove, at least in this stage, that you've
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  actually violated the image rights.
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  And that's where the lawyers, as you were saying Mark, happily
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  step in to get a nice big paycheck.
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  Well, in fact, Loot Littler is not the only one who's gone
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  through this process. Now if we take some of the
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  famous singers for example, throughout the world, Taylor
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  Swift being an obvious one, her image has been misused by
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  generation of all sorts of technology.
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  Gen. AI has reproduced her image in
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  multiple forms and that has caused many concerns.
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  And so this lack of image rights within the law is something that
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  many lawyers have actually said that not just the US, but also
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  the UK, Europe and Asia need to tighten up.
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  Because I think that when you think about it is that you are
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  really sort of relying on your image as your business and
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  whilst your skill is very much part of it.
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  So in Luke's case, he's obviously very skillful at
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  throwing the dart and being very accurate.
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  In Taylor Swift's case, you know, it's just about singing
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  songs and writing good, good tunes.
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  But the fact of the matter is, if somebody comes in and
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  basically hijacks your image, you could be in a situation
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  where you, you as an unsuspecting member of the
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  public could end up buying something that wasn't
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  authenticated. And I think that's the key as
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  well. It's not just about the the loss
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  of business to the artist or to the expert.
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  It's also to protect the consumer.
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  I think that's the other side of this, isn't it?
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  It's it's buyer beware. Yes, I think that's that's
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  important. Yes, I think that
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  misrepresenting someone is important, not just for the
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  person involved in the, we're talking about Luke Littler, but
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  others, but for the for people who are seeing that image, if
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  they think it is actually them, the the person they want to see
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  and it isn't, then they're being cheated out of being whatever it
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  is, being able to see the actual person or they may, you know,
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  then have a bad impression of the person.
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  Depending on how the image is being used, maybe some deep fake
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  use which represents the person in a bad light, then you know,
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  you've got mental stress of the person, you know of the fans of
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  the person. So it, it, it, it is a good
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  move. It's it's sad in a way that it's
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  necessary, but it is a good move.
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  Well, and many lawyers are saying smart branding decisions
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  are key here. And of course, you know, what
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  we're really looking for and they're saying is a legal
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  framework around AI and copyright as well as trademark,
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  because trademarks remain one of the most effective tools to
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  control commercial use of your own image.
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  So whether it's on a poster, whether it's on AT shirt,
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  etcetera, these are the sort of things that can help people to
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  make sure that they're the artists protected and also of
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  course the consumer. Unless, of course, you just
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  happen to see it as an ugly mug.