Legal question

[Loraly]

Does Obama get paid royalties on all of the memorabilia being sold?

I was just debating this with some friends that don't think he does and I think he does.

[taurii]

im not a lawyer yet so i wouldnt really know but im pretty sure that his pictures are out there for the world to see so on things like the commemorative plate and crap no royalties would be generated because it was a picture that was already out there for general public use although one could argue that the person who took the picture should get royalties as it was their work... just my two cents /shrugs

Taurii

[Leiph]

As a technical matter, he should be getting royalties, or, more precisely, the products shouldn't be sold without his express permission. As a practical matter, he won't be, and they are.

Notwithstanding that he's a public figure, you aren't allowed to use someone else's intellectual property, which includes their name and likeness, for your own commercial enterprise or profit without their permission. You can look to many of the other celebrity cases, where a product sponsor tries to use their image or name (or song or trademarked phrase, etc.) to endorse their products, without authorization. Many celebrities are diligent about suing to enforce ownership of their intellectual property (and their ability to get license fees) - many don't care.

Of course, permission would not be required if his name or image is simply being used as part of political or non-commercial speech.

The following article touches briefly on those topics.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09020/943049-84.stm

[taurii]

interesting leiph=) i would have thought a little differently=) seems like itd be a pita to go through the effort to get the money tho...

taurii