Actress Lindsay Lohan has complained since December that some elements of the video game Grand Theft Auto V tread too close to her real life. The blockbuster game was released last year and features celebrities, criminals, and paparazzi all behaving badly in a sun-drenched metropolis.

Lohan suggested then that she might lawyer up, and now she actually has.

According to the AP and Reuters, Lohan filed suit yesterday in New York state court, naming Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games as defendants. The complaint isn't available online, but Reuters reports that the complaint says that a minor character named Lacey Jonas is a "look-alike" of Lohan and that the game violates her "privacy rights under New York law."

Lacey Jonas features in some minor side quests in the game, including one in which the player must engage in some GTA-style wild driving to help Jonas avoid (video) the paparazzi. During the high-speed chase, the Jonas character expresses concerns about her weight and hair appearance.

Lohan's first Hollywood role was in the 1998 movie The Parent Trap, and she became a major star after hits like the 2003 re-make of Freaky Friday and the 2004 film Mean Girls. Since 2007, she has been in the news more for her legal woes, which include arrests for cocaine possession, drunk driving, and jewelry theft.

The complaint also mentions that GTA V features the Hotel Cheateau Marmont, a West Hollywood hotel where Lohan once lived and reportedly racked up $46,000 in unpaid bills. In GTA V, the hotel features in a separate side quest, in which the player must film a washed-up actress named Poppy Mitchell having sex.

In 2009, the release of Guitar Hero 5 was followed by a few similar lawsuits over stolen "likenesses." Makers of the game were sued by the band No Doubt and also faced legal threats from Courtney Love because the game allowed players to have bands' likenesses perform songs by entirely different artists, a feature that hadn't been agreed upon by the participating bands.

However, those were more straightforward cases. Lacey Jonas, like other characters in GTA V, seems like a clear parody, an over-the-top portrayal of self-absorption and reckless behavior. Such satirical representations generally have strong protections in US law.