Steve Jobs Doll Legal After All?
Can you protect a persons identity after their death?
it would appear that there are only a few states in the US where some form of protection is offered to a person after their untimely departure from the land of the living, and those states include California and, Texas but not New York.
Apple will try to block Steve Jobs doll anyway:
Apple love a good lawsuit, so it was only expected that the freakish Steve Jobs doll that has been created by inicons would face some serious objections from Cupertino land, but have Apple got any basis for a challenge here?
In a letter to Inicons ahead of the expected February launch, Apple used the old chestnut that stopped the earlier figure of Steve Jobs created by M.I.C. Gadget from ever seeing the light of day, and sent a letter stating that:
“unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent […].”
However, Jeff Roberts of paid content seems to think that the doll will be legal, but only in some states:
“Apple’s legal claim is largely bogus. While people can indeed own rights to their likeness, those rights usually apply only to living people, unlike other forms of intellectual property like patents or copyrights, image rights do not survive beyond the grave in most places”
Stating that under US law “personality rights” only exist at state level, with only a few of these actually recognizing image rights after death, which includes California, Jobs’ birth state.
States that will likely ban the Steve Jobs doll:
States and countries that may see a ban base don image rights law after death:
[arrowlist]
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Texas
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Florida
- California
- Ohio
- Washington
- New Jersey
- Nevada
- Nebraska
- Germany
- Argentina
US States that may ban sale of Steve Jobs Doll:
Countries:
[/arrowlist]
What is the doll?
The doll will be made up of a number of pieces and will be a fairly realistic 1/6th scale version of the man himself. The pieces that will be included are two sets of spectacles, a movable head, a turtleneck black jumper, signature blue jeans, a black leather belt, sneekers, a pair of black socks, and a chair. There will also be two apples, and a backdrop which reads “one more thing”.
At $99 will you be buying this effigy of Steve jobs to worship and offer small Apples to on a regular basis, or will you be getting one to use it for some sort of voodoo shenanigans?
And is this doll in bad taste or is it a novel, and fun, way of remembering a man whom many consider of god like status, while others see him as a killer of all things innovation wise, while looking after number one?
Your thoughts on the matter please.
Anthony Munns