Hacker News Reader

Comment by spoonjim | Hacker News Reader

Off topic but I can't stand when corporations use actual people's names for their marketing who never gave them the permission to do so. For something like Shakespeare or Cicero I'm OK with it but Grace Hopper was alive in my lifetime, and even Tesla feels a little weird. What gives you the right to use that person's reputation to shill your product?

View on HN

> What gives you the right to use that person's reputation to shill your product?

Practically speaking you have the right to do anything unless someone complains about it. A lot of popular figures, even those long dead, have estates and organizations that manage their likeliness and other related copyright and IP. IDK what the situation is in this case, but Nvidia may very well have paid for the name.

I don’t think my kids have any more right to use my name than a corporation, unless I specifically grant them that right (like Walt Disney did by naming it the Walt Disney company). Another sickening one is the Ed Lee Club in SF, who endorses political candidates under the name of a much-loved dead SF mayor.

Your kids have the right to everything you own (including your name) by default unless you take steps to change that, say using a will or estate.

Yes, I know, I'm saying that it should not be that way. Rights to your likeness should end at your death unless you specifically write down otherwise.

Do you have kids?

Yes.

And you think they shouldn't have that right because of social concerns like accumulation of wealth?

No, because they don’t own my identity! If my name is valuable I can will it to them. I can will my money to them. I just don’t think they should be able to endorse political candidates with my name after I’m dead, unless I specifically gave them that right by contract.

You'd be dead...

The situation is that various Australian companies (think Kangaroo) and DISH network already have Hopper product lines and Nvidia didn't care about getting into a legal kerfuffle and used the name anyway. As to whether Hopper's estate was consulted I don't know.

I generally agree with you, but in this case I suspect Grace Hopper would be honored by it and also impressed with the engineering here. It's not like they slapped her name on a soda can or something.

That’s not NVIDIA’s place to decide.

Theranos' "Edison" machine enters the chat...

what gives you the right to own a name ever? especially once your dead?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com