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In 1985 Maxell built a bunch of life-size robots for its bad floppy ad

28 pointsby rfarley04last Wednesday at 2:16 PM1 commentview on HN

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bitwizetoday at 9:10 PM

I vaguely remember these but I more clearly remember the Samsung ad which featured a similar looking robot in a dress turning letters on a gameshow, implying that Samsung would still be around even after Vanna White was replaced by a machine. Vanna White sued, claiming a breach of her publicity rights (despite her name, the name "Wheel of Fortune", or her actual likeness not being used) and actually prevailed in court, establishing a precedent in the United States that very broadly protects celebrities' rights to control whether and how they are represented.