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Legal Commentary

: Infamy or Praise

TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (162)

By Colin Samuels

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This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of Techdirt (from Wednesday, April 9; link good at time of posting):

It appears Marilyn Monroe's estate didn't think all the way through its strategy of posthumously moving the famed star to New York. Apparently, her family convinced California tax authorities that Monroe had been a New York resident, in an attempt to avoid paying taxes on the estate in California. Unfortunately for the estate, that would also mean that Marilyn Monroe's publicity rights died with her.
. . . . California allows "rights of publicity" to live on after death -- meaning that images of famous people still need to be licensed. However, New York says your right of publicity dies when you die. So, a court has now ruled that, thanks to Monroe's own estate claiming that she was a New Yorker, there's no longer a right of publicity for Monroe, and photographers who own Monroe photographs shouldn't have to pay her estate (as they've done since her death). This has photographers claiming that the estate has been unfairly demanding licenses for many years. Next time, perhaps Monroe's estate will just pay the taxes it owes.

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Full post as published by Infamy or Praise on April 11, 2008 (boomark / email).