Borat and the Law

Slate has a fun Explainer piece about the Borat film (trailer page) being released in a couple of weeks, addressing the release signed by people who appear in it and its unusual specificity:

The waivers encompass claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, and infringement of publicity rights—and they do so in unusual detail. The document diverges most clearly from the standard “standard consent agreements” when it gets into issues of fraud, “breach of alleged moral rights,” and copyright infringement. There’s even a reference to the federal Lanham Act, which covers unfair business practices that could mislead consumers. (This clause may protect against the claim that consumers were made to believe that the participant has endorsed—or voluntarily acted—in the film.)

Slate has the actual release involved posted.