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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Ind. Law - More on: Right of publicity law changes proposed
Updating this ILB entry from January 16th on HB 1133, check out this story today by Eriq Gardner in The Hollywood Reporter, headed "Why the Marilyn Monroe Estate Paid $3 Million For Photos of the Film Legend (Analysis): As a result, an important lawsuit impacting the publicity rights of deceased celebrities could be near an end." Here is a sample:
[Sam] Shaw was a legendary photographer who captured some of the biggest stars from old Hollywood, including Marlon Brando, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. His images of Monroe were the most iconic, and after the photographer's death, his family began to license the images around, including to Target for T-shirts and to one documentary producer who was making a film entitled Marilyn's Man about the star's first husband.Then CMG Worldwide, an Indiana-based intellectual property management firm, entered the picture. The firm had previously lobbied its home state to pass laws that generously conferred post-mortem publicity rights to deceased celebrities. When Monroe's photographer later sought to exploit Monroe images, CMG demanded a cut.
That set off litigation -- first in Indiana, where CMG demanded an injunction, and then in New York, where Shaw Family Archives argued Monroe was a citizen at the time of her death. Importantly, New York law wasn't as generous to dead celebrities as Indiana law.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 26, 2012 03:13 PM
Posted to Indiana Law