From The New York Times…
King Estate Considering Suit Over Unlicensed Obama Items
By Robbie Brown
ATLANTA — Since Barack Obama’s election last week as the nation’s first black president, street vendors and online stores have been hawking T-shirts, buttons and posters juxtaposing images of him with those of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as twin pillars of racial progress.
Mr. Obama will not be profiting from those sales, but Dr. King’s family is considering whether it can.
Isaac Newton Farris Jr., a nephew of Dr. King and president of the King Center in Atlanta, said the family was considering several options, including lawsuits against sellers of unauthorized merchandise linking Mr. Obama and Dr. King under slogans like “The Dream Is Reality.”
“It’s not about the money,” Mr. Farris said. “The law says that if you don’t assert and protect the right to an image, you can lose that right.” But he added, “We do feel that if somebody’s out there making a dollar, we should make a dime.”
The King family celebrates Mr. Obama’s election but wants to protect Dr. King’s name and estate, Mr. Farris said, adding that the family would probably wait 30 or 45 days before suing, to allow vendors to stop selling the items.
“We don’t want to sue people,” he said. “We’re not looking for a fight. It would be our last move to sue anyone.”
But the King estate may be entitled to hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in licensing fees, Mr. Farris said, and the proceeds should benefit the King Center, a nonprofit organization and memorial.
Joseph M. Beck, a lawyer who represents the King estate, said courts have repeatedly defended the right of public figures to control the commercial use of their copyrighted words and image.
But critics say lawsuits against vendors would be difficult to enforce and could dampen the spirit of Mr. Obama’s victory.
“This is the King estate piggybacking on the success of Obama,” said David J. Garrow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Dr. King. “The family says they don’t want their brand tarnished, but they seem blind to how much reputational damage they’re doing.”
In recent years, the King family has come under criticism from Mr. Garrow and other scholars who believe that the family is being overprotective of Dr. King’s legacy, in particular for suing news organizations and historians who use excerpts from his speeches without paying the family.
After The Associated Press reported the possibility of lawsuits against vendors Thursday, online stores began removing items with Dr. King’s likeness. Karen DeMarco, a spokeswoman for Zazzle, an online clothing store, said the Web site was taking down all King-related items.
But on street corners and in clothing stores across the country, the merchandise remained popular, and it is likely to be difficult to stop.
Stopping every vendor will be nearly impossible, said Paul Goldstein, a professor at Stanford Law School. “These things pop up like mushrooms,” he said.
Curtis Garmon, a salesman at ATL Fashion in Atlanta, said shirts with images of Mr. Obama and Dr. King were selling quickly.
“Everybody’s just going crazy about them,” Mr. Garmon said, holding a shirt with their images and the phrases “I have a dream” and “Yes, we can.”
“It’s not about the money,” Mr. Farris said.
ReplyDeleteAny time anyone says that, you know it's only and entirely about the money.
Yes, you're definitely right that it's about the money. At the same time, the King family's position is understandable. Speaking from experience, there have been tons of advertisers seeking to patronize/connect with Black audiences by running Dr. King's words and images alongside a corporate logo. There still are. It's no different than using a piece of copyrighted music to gain hipness. A copyright is a copyright.
ReplyDeleteI can see the point, but when usage of Dr. King's image is described as "diluting the brand", there's a fundamental disconnect that's taken place, IMO.
ReplyDelete