BJ Novak Is On Product Packaging Globally After Photo Enters Public Domain
Photo 23340313 © Featureflash | Dreamstime.com
Ryan Howard’s reverse character development in The Office has been such a pleasure to watch. Now, the intern to corporate executive to bowling alley worker to failed startup boss to Dunder Mifflin worker, played by actor and screenwriter BJ Novak, can add “international model” to one of the several hats he wears.
For years, Novak’s face has been plastered across packaging of products around the world that he has no knowledge of.
In Sweden, he’s the face of Calvin Klein’s Encounter cologne, and China has cast him as the poster boy for electric hair clippers and razors.
Scoot over to Uruguay, and you might find Novak advertising a brand of blue face paint. A little closer to home is his “gig” with a line of ponchos in Los Angeles; here, he’s covered head to toe in a raincoat.
Dying @ Bj Novak’s IG stories today 😩😩💀 pic.twitter.com/8Xyc3tF0OL
— bibi (@bibigbrother) October 25, 2021
Novak had no part in these supposed modeling jobs, but he’s aware that his face is out there. On Instagram, he described that the photo emblazoned all over products might have been accidentally released on a public domain website “years ago,” allowing anyone on the internet to use the image for free without permission.
— bibi (@bibigbrother) October 25, 2021
Nevertheless, he’s making light of the situation. Such sightings have been memorialized in his Instagram highlights, which he has saved under the title “Modeling.”
“I am too amused to do anything about it,” Novak detailed.
However, if he does decide to pursue the matter, The New York Times says it’s more than possible. The news outlet consulted Marc Misthal—a principal lawyer at New York legal firm Gottlieb, Rackman & Reisman—who explained that Novak could easily send out cease-and-desist letters to brands that have used his likeness without consent, or even sue them.
Unfortunately, the way the photo has traveled has made it difficult to trace its photographer. Such problems are a dime a dozen in the industry, but companies that support creative ownership are working on it. Adobe, for one, has newly introduced creator attribution tools into its products, allowing image owners to embed identity details and edit history into files.
[via The New York Times, cover photo 23340313 © Featureflash | Dreamstime.com]
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