Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : copyright: famous faces
one thing that has always crossed my mind concerning copyright is the depiction of famous people. for example, there are countless replicas of marilyn monroe, john lennon, muhammed ali, etcetera, all depicted in various art forms - whether it is in a £3 poster print, a £20 t-shirt, or a hand-painted, limited edition £400 canvas. it seems that the copyright either does not exist (because they are deceased?), or it is very flimsy. i highly doubt that in the majority of cases these artists/studios have seeked the copyright permissions to use the image for their own gain (profit) - yet artwork and other materials with depications of the deceased or otherwise are widely accepted in mainstream shops and whatnot.
i was just wondering if any body could iron out my concerns? it is a tricky subject and i have had no luck from google. thank you.
PrintDriver
11-20-2007, 01:57 PM
Check, or have your lawyer check, current UK copyright law regarding famous personalities. Seems recently someone on here was thumbing their nose at Rights of Publicity because there is some kind of loophole in UK copyright law.
But don't take my word for it...I'm no lawyer and I'm not in the UK.
Virgo Nightingale
11-20-2007, 05:22 PM
I believe in the US that if a celebrity is deceased, it is their estate that maintains the rights to that person's name and likeness. (A vodka company was recently sued by the Hendrix estate because they were using his name and likeness (http://www.earvolution.com/images/hendrixvodka.gif) on their vodka bottles: clicky (http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=224d839c-0218-4f5b-a033-0ca5969d998c).) But then you have the photographer who owns the rights to the photos themselves, and I'm not sure how that all works together.
Again, this is US, not UK.
Drazan
11-20-2007, 05:52 PM
Ask a lawer about famous people /items and public domain.
For example, the brooklyn bridge is considered public domain, but a photo of the brooklyn bridge is copyrighted to the person who took that photo.
There's a thousand grey areas to using another person's likeness, image, photo or anything really. If you didn't create it then you have to find out the permissionable use from the person who actually created it or owns the rightes to it. In reguards to famous people - their "face" is considered a comodity and their "likeness" is copyrighted.
No one here can tell you to "go ahead and do it" because we are not lawyers and won't be able to give you that type of legal advice.
btw - most of what you see is probably under a distribution license.
Jade
hewligan
11-20-2007, 07:05 PM
Copyright only applies if someone else takes the photo or draws the picture. There is no such thing as copyright on faces (Though as I recall, back in the 80's, one British pop star claimed that his make-up was copyright, and therefore anyone showing his likeness had to have a license...).
What you do have to contend with though is a whole raft of privacy laws (plus potentially other stuff - the wrong use of the photo could constitute slander, for example).
This discussion of model releases (http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html) goes into some of the details of the related laws, but they do vary quite wildly from country to country (and even from state to state within the US).
It's definitely an area I'd stay the hell away from...
PrintDriver
11-21-2007, 01:22 AM
There are laws here about using a celebrity's face in anything short of an editorial piece. Good luck trying to make a buck of using one in the US...
Gotta be dead at least 100 years here to hit public domain. And then some, in some cases.
I understand the copyright concerning photography. I will tediously sift though the pages of copyright laws regarding this topic when I have the time - i just thought that i would ask here first, incase anybody has dealt with these issues before. The artwork that triggered my interest never attatch the celebrities name to the piece - so I am beginning to believe that this plays a major factor in whether or not they are breaking the law.
I will post my eventual findings here. Thanks.
budafist
11-23-2007, 01:13 AM
Hey I remember that I had a question on using a famous face (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22029). In the end I got a quote for 1 time use of an image but that price was for editorial use only.
Let my client know, but on top of the expensive price, the design would need to be approved by his estate before going ahead. If it's a product, the estate will consider if the deceased person in question might actually endorse the product if they were still alive.
That's a lot of money to pay for a picture that might not even be approved by the estate. Not to mention design time. It's not worth it IMO.