Dead celebrities Designs on t-shirts

[Skinzdesign]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello everyone.

I am a artist and have created a original illustration of micheal jackson and would like to print it on t-shirts. However, im unsure if i would have any legal problems if i were to sell them even thou micheal jackson recently passed away.

Does the rights to a celebrity image marketing die with the celebrity and become public domain?

Any help would be greatly appreciated....thanks

 

[quincy]

Although you will see many many many many items being sold now, trying to capitalize on Michael Jackson's death, you will also be seeing just as many lawsuits filed against those hawking such merchandise.

Michael Jackson's name, image and music are covered by copyrights, trademarks, and publicity rights, all of which survive his death (although, in a few states such as New York, the publicity rights die with the celebrity).

You can check out the various Elvis lawsuits to see what is in store for those who attempt to market Jackson merchandise. Especially now, immediately after his death when there is the most money to be made, Jackson's estate will have its IP attorneys vigilantly surveying the marketplace for infringers. It will be a large job for the estate, and not every infringer will get "caught," but those who do are liable to rue the day they thought it was a great idea to make Michael Jackson bumper stickers, posters, tee-shirts, key chains, dolls, etc. for quick cash.

 

[Skinzdesign]

i see thanks for great the advice!

thou i wonder, is there a certain time limit after a celebrity dies that there image becomes public domain? For example long dead artist like elvis and 2 pac whos faces you see being sold on allot of small independent tshirt websites.

Also how about politicians? Are there images public domain while they hold positions in government? if so, is there image still public domain after they retire from office?


thanks again.

 

[quincy]

Public domain materials under the copyright law are works published before 1923, works published between 1923 and 1963 that have not been renewed, any facts or ideas (which are uncopyrightable), works published before 1978 that were not restored and that did not carry the proper copyright symbol, works published between 1978 and 1989 if the copyright notice on the work was defective or inadequate and was not properly corrected, works purposely placed in the public domain by the creator of the work, works created by the federal government, and works created before 1978 but not published before December 31, 2003.

If not covered by copyright, there may be trademark rights. Trademarks can be renewed indefinitely. Some trademarked materials, therefore, may never be placed in the public domain.

Some dead celebrities are not covered by publicity rights, copyright or trademark. These dead celebrity names and images can be safely used in a commercial venture. Elvis, Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Einstein, John Lennon - many others - cannot be safely used. Their estates own all rights to their names and images, in the form of publicity rights, copyrights and trademarks.

Political figures have publicity rights in their names and images. Some will enforce these rights (like Arnold Schwartzenager) and others prefer to have their name and image put before the public as a way to get free publicity (like the Clintons).

As a very general rule, it is not okay to profit off the name and/or image of any living private or public figure without their permission. Just as I cannot take a picture of you and put it on a tee shirt to sell, I cannot take a picture of Paris Hilton and put it on a tee shirt to sell. Obviously I would make more money on one than the other, but neither are permissible without permission and/or a license.

As another general rule, it is okay to profit off the name and/or image of someone who is dead unless that person's name or image is owned by an estate that has preserved the rights in the name and image. The more famous the person was, the more likely that you would need permission to use the name or image for any commercial venture.

In addition, you cannot use an image that someone else created (a photo taken of Paris Hilton) without both the permission of the photographer (who owns the copyright) and Paris Hilton (who has both trademark and publicity rights to her name and image).

You will see a lot of people creating tee shirts with celebrity images on them. Some may have obtained a license to use the image and make the tee shirts. The vast majority have not obtained a license to use the image and risk being sued for infringement. Many will escape being sued. Those who don't learn a very expensive lesson on why getting permission is wise.

 

[Skinzdesign]

thanks allot for this.....this is very informative.

 

[mrdreamers]

hmmm...

Although you will see many many many many items being sold now, trying to capitalize on Michael Jackson's death, you will also be seeing just as many lawsuits filed against those hawking such merchandise.

Michael Jackson's name, image and music are covered by copyrights, trademarks, and publicity rights, all of which survive his death (although, in a few states such as New York, the publicity rights die with the celebrity).

You can check out the various Elvis lawsuits to see what is in store for those who attempt to market Jackson merchandise. Especially now, immediately after his death when there is the most money to be made, Jackson's estate will have its IP attorneys vigilantly surveying the marketplace for infringers. It will be a large job for the estate, and not every infringer will get "caught," but those who do are liable to rue the day they thought it was a great idea to make Michael Jackson bumper stickers, posters, tee-shirts, key chains, dolls, etc. for quick cash.

so does that mean people that died in places like New York its ok to use them to put on shirts to sell like say Heath Ledger that died in New York?

 

[quincy]

so does that mean people that died in places like New York its ok to use them to put on shirts to sell like say Heath Ledger that died in New York?

This is a very old thread, mrdreamers, and it is frowned upon on this forum to revive old threads to add comments or questions.

That said, it is not necessarily okay to use a Heath Ledger image to sell tee-shirts. Images of Heath Ledger would be copyright-protected so, for one, permission would be needed from the holder of the copyright to use an existing image. And Ledger's estate may hold trademark rights (I haven't checked). Trademark rights survive death even if/when publicity rights don't.

You can check out the lawsuits filed over the commercial use in New York of Marilyn Monroe images to get an idea of what is in store for you if you attempt to capitalize off the image of a dead celebrity. It gets very expensive very fast.