Are impersonating voices legal?

[sammaslammajama]

Is it ok to impersonate voices for a gig? for example i would read a script a customer gives me in my impeccable “barney the dinosaur” voice. is it legally allowed for me to do this?

cause i was searching around and found an article that said:
“You cannot use a celebrity’s likeness (in this case a facsimile of their voice) with the intent to deceive the public into thinking the celebrity is providing their likeness for your commercial gain”

But on Fiverr i still see some successful people with gigs such as the morgan freeman impersonations.

help please… ( i would really like to share some of my many different types of impersonations)

[sammaslammajama]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

hmmm i see, thank you for your reply.

[misscrystal]

hmmm i see, thank you for your reply.

This question is asking for legal opinions so that’s why I suggested you are better off if you read about this subject by using google.

[sammaslammajama]

This question is asking for legal opinions so that’s why I suggested you are better off if you read about this subject by using google.

yea ok, i thought id just ask cuz i see alot of people in firverr doing different character impersonations and wanted to know if its actually okay and legal to do it on fiverr. cause i dont want any trouble or legal lawsuits being held against me in the future. i dont wanna follow people around who are doing wrong.

[misscrystal]

yea ok, i thought id just ask cuz i see alot of people in firverr doing different character impersonations and wanted to know if its actually okay and legal to do it on fiverr. cause i dont want any trouble or legal lawsuits being held against me in the future. i dont wanna follow people around who are doing wrong.

This isn’t the place to try to find out something this important.

[wooden_fish]

This is for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice blah blah.

I don’t even see how copyright could apply to a voice and a quick search seems to agree that it can’t.

[uk1000]

This isn’t legal advice.

Will it be a parody? If yes, maybe. If not, maybe not.
You could ask Lyons Partnership for their permission as they seem to hold the IP rights.

[loganstover]

yea ok, i thought id just ask cuz i see alot of people in firverr doing different character impersonations and wanted to know if its actually okay and legal to do it on fiverr. cause i dont want any trouble or legal lawsuits being held against me in the future. i dont wanna follow people around who are doing wrong.

I don’t know the answer to your exact question, but I can tell you why I stay away from it. I feel like it’s the type of gig that could get closed at any second. I don’t want to have any of those issues, so I will stay away from saying I will do a specific voice. Rather, I have a gig titles “I will record character voices… etc”

yea ok, i thought id just ask cuz i see alot of people in firverr doing different character impersonations

I can’t even count how many times I have seen on this forum that a Gig was shutdown, and the seller said, “but I saw other people doing it”. If your gut says no, go with it.

[misscrystal]

There has already been some misinformation given here.

[fastcopywriter]

I think it’s legal. I’ve heard radio commercials with impersonators doing the voice of famous politicians, actors, etc.

[misscrystal]

See this is what I was afraid of. I did a one minute search on this subject just now and the information is right there on the internet if anyone has the desire to actually get an answer rather than giving opinions.