The Southern District of New York has just issued a bombshell decision in this area. In Shaw Family Archives v. Marilyn Monroe LLC, it held that Marilyn Monroe's heirs cannot claim post-mortem publicity rights because she died before the enactment of the statute that creates them in California (and, for reasons that are not important here, Indiana). So, according to this Court, her image, likeness and persona are all in the public domain. Put it on a t-shirt. Or a bottle of wine. Use it to sell widgets. No permission necessary. (But please remember, copyrights to the photograph you might want to use are a whole spearate issue.)
Is this a big deal? You bet. Licensing dead celebrities is a multi-million dollar business. But California -- the center of the celebrity universe -- only passed the statute creating post-mortem publcity rights in 1984. Lots of the hottest dead celebrities (licensing-wise) died long before that, and millions of licensing revenue stands to disappear under this decision.
Intellectual property lawyers in Hollywood will now have plenty to worry about, and therefore plenty of job security, for years to come.
This gets to the heart of the new "ownership society" in which we've found ourselves, where people's images, ideas, even naturally-occurring genes are claimed. It's like watching 2nd grade boys claiming territory in the sandbox. "First dibs!"
(Are there sandboxes on playgrounds any more? Let's ask the lawyers.)
If I come across as a tad cynical about this, that's because I'm getting the sense that the claims being made by media corporations and other interested parties are not helping to encourage innovation, but rather are working to stifle it. --Not that the prospect of seeing more Hollywood golden era stars dancing with vacuums has anything to do with innovation one way or the other.
This is going to be an interesting story to follow. And you can be sure the news media will cover it. After all, such things are their bread and butter.
[Comments are now closed due to relentless "nancy miracle" spam]
]]>The Southern District of New York has just issued a bombshell decision in this area. In Shaw Family Archives v. Marilyn Monroe LLC, it held that Marilyn Monroe's heirs cannot claim post-mortem publicity rights because she died before the enactment of the statute that creates them in California (and, for reasons that are not important here, Indiana). So, according to this Court, her image, likeness and persona are all in the public domain. Put it on a t-shirt. Or a bottle of wine. Use it to sell widgets. No permission necessary. (But please remember, copyrights to the photograph you might want to use are a whole spearate issue.)
Is this a big deal? You bet. Licensing dead celebrities is a multi-million dollar business. But California -- the center of the celebrity universe -- only passed the statute creating post-mortem publcity rights in 1984. Lots of the hottest dead celebrities (licensing-wise) died long before that, and millions of licensing revenue stands to disappear under this decision.
Intellectual property lawyers in Hollywood will now have plenty to worry about, and therefore plenty of job security, for years to come.
This gets to the heart of the new "ownership society" in which we've found ourselves, where people's images, ideas, even naturally-occurring genes are claimed. It's like watching 2nd grade boys claiming territory in the sandbox. "First dibs!"
(Are there sandboxes on playgrounds any more? Let's ask the lawyers.)
If I come across as a tad cynical about this, that's because I'm getting the sense that the claims being made by media corporations and other interested parties are not helping to encourage innovation, but rather are working to stifle it. --Not that the prospect of seeing more Hollywood golden era stars dancing with vacuums has anything to do with innovation one way or the other.
This is going to be an interesting story to follow. And you can be sure the news media will cover it. After all, such things are their bread and butter.
[Comments are now closed due to relentless "nancy miracle" spam]
]]>The turning car blared its horn. He stopped eventually -- almost too late. The turning car moved on. The light turned green, and I started forward from the #2 lane....
...and saw the driver, a 20-something guy who was completely nonplussed, chatting away on his cell phone he had pressed to his ear.
This was in Longmont, Colorado, but hopefully California's new law will eventually hit this state that so-doggedly embraces individual freedoms.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the measure, urged Californians not to wait until then to put down their phones while driving, citing government data showing those who held their phones while driving were involved in 15 times more accidents than those with hands-free setups.
"The simple fact is that it is really dangerous to talk on a cell phone and drive at the same time," Schwarzenegger said. "It's very important for people to know ... stop using the cell phone right now, because you are putting people at risk."
I've been using cell phones since 1994, driving with them all that time. It didn't take long to realize that every time I was talking with that then-rather-large flip-phone to my ear, I was entering my own little Twilight Zone, slowing down to way below the speed limit, not noticing the traffic around me except in some vague dream-like sense, certainly not prepared for any unexpected moves by other cars (which certainly can be expected in LA).
I had to learn how to drive with the cell phone, learn how to pay full attention to driving while someone was demanding my attention. And I had to learn to not futz with the phone itself while driving, for it was much more complicated than changing a radio station.
When I got an earpiece for the phone, it all got better. Living and working freelance in LA, where everything seems to be at least an hour's drive away on surface streets, I had to have the phone. More than once it made the difference in getting six months of work. And I had to drive. The earpiece made it possible. I still had to focus on concentrating while driving -- it has become habit now -- but it helped.
Now if only there could be a law requiring cell phone companies to use an earpiece.
]]>The turning car blared its horn. He stopped eventually -- almost too late. The turning car moved on. The light turned green, and I started forward from the #2 lane....
...and saw the driver, a 20-something guy who was completely nonplussed, chatting away on his cell phone he had pressed to his ear.
This was in Longmont, Colorado, but hopefully California's new law will eventually hit this state that so-doggedly embraces individual freedoms.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the measure, urged Californians not to wait until then to put down their phones while driving, citing government data showing those who held their phones while driving were involved in 15 times more accidents than those with hands-free setups.
"The simple fact is that it is really dangerous to talk on a cell phone and drive at the same time," Schwarzenegger said. "It's very important for people to know ... stop using the cell phone right now, because you are putting people at risk."
I've been using cell phones since 1994, driving with them all that time. It didn't take long to realize that every time I was talking with that then-rather-large flip-phone to my ear, I was entering my own little Twilight Zone, slowing down to way below the speed limit, not noticing the traffic around me except in some vague dream-like sense, certainly not prepared for any unexpected moves by other cars (which certainly can be expected in LA).
I had to learn how to drive with the cell phone, learn how to pay full attention to driving while someone was demanding my attention. And I had to learn to not futz with the phone itself while driving, for it was much more complicated than changing a radio station.
When I got an earpiece for the phone, it all got better. Living and working freelance in LA, where everything seems to be at least an hour's drive away on surface streets, I had to have the phone. More than once it made the difference in getting six months of work. And I had to drive. The earpiece made it possible. I still had to focus on concentrating while driving -- it has become habit now -- but it helped.
Now if only there could be a law requiring cell phone companies to use an earpiece.
]]>