Blogs

No need to adjust your internet connection, if you're looking for worldstarhiphop the closest you're going to get is a cached Google page.

The video website made the mistake of going against 50 Cent and now appear to be paying the price. 

Well actually the site is down due to some kind of technical difficulties according to the site's owner Q, or maybe because of copyright infringement of others are to be believed.

"We've been down before, the longest was like 8 months in 2007," Q told Hot 97's Angie Martinez during a phone conversation just moments ago.

When asked to go into his beef with 50 Cent, Q called it a "miscommunication", but it's more than that.

Worldstar had been using 50 Cent's image as it's logo for an extended period, giving visitor's to the site the false impression he was somehow affiliated with it.

50 Cent sued Worldstar in June 2009 for unlawfully using his image. That case is still winding its way through the court system, but the fact is he has a good chance of winning.

I came across this article on blackweb20 that explains why Fif could walk away from the suit with a lot of money or even more.

The use of one’s image or likeness is covered under the Right to Publicity law. This law drives from the Right to Privacy. There are four basic Rights to Privacy:

1. Protection from unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another. For example a home or a car,

2. Protection from appropriation of a person’s name or likeness (Right to Publicity). For example using a person’s name or image on a product or service without their permission,

3. Protection from publication of private facts. For example, income tax data, family quarrels, medical treatment, school records, etc.,

4. Protection from publication of information that places a person in a false light.
Prosser, Restatement 2nd of Torts.

The Right to Publicity is triggered where commercial speech is involved, i.e, when a company has used a celebrity’s “name, likeness, or voice” in connection with a product, thereby creating a false and misleading impression that the celebrity is endorsing the product. See, e.g., Eastwood v. Super. Ct., 149 Cal. App. 3d 409, 417 (1983).

In 50 cent case, he claims WorldStarHipHop.com used his image like a banner ad, therefore created the false impression that he was affiliated with the site. The use of his image resulted in increased traffic to the site and therefore increased ad dollars. If 50 cent's claims are proven to be true, WorldStarHipHop.com will have to compensate 50 cents for using his image to endorse their product, i.e., their website.

Now back to today's dismantling of Worldstar. There's someone else claiming to have taken them down due to a copyright infringement claim.

According to this guy @ishatonu. he filed a complaint against Worldstar with their server host Yahoo, after they used one of his videos without permission.

Whatever the case, the site is down and it's more than just "technical difficulties", their problems with 50 Cent are just beginning.