photo courtesy of SanFranAnnie
According to a recent Washington Post article, you’ve got until January 20th to sell your Obama related merchandise before the heavy hand of the law snuffs out your money making machine. Washington lawyer Gregory Craig is representing president-elect Obama and it will be his job come noon on January 20th to stop “the commercial exploitation of his client’s image”. This includes the selling of “Obama can openers, Obama chocolate chip cookies, Obama chocolate bars” to name a few things. I’m personally wondering if this also includes the buying and selling of artwork that contains his likeness (such as the Shepard Fairey image above)?
Folks, you’ve got less than a week to sell your supply of Obama thongs, lollipops, and beer cozies. I suggest putting the whole lot on eBay or selling them for half price on the Mall this weekend. Jail is not a very fun place to be (unless you’re OJ).
You’d think a big fancy lawyer would know that politicians in particular have a hard time asserting rights of publicity over their own likenesses. Unlike other public figures, images of politicians, particularly transformative ones such as the Fairey image, tend to be protected by the First Amendment since they are arguably political speech.
So what if Fairey starts selling Obama cookies?
umm… Good luck with that… Its not going to work.
Im with Daniel. It will not work.
There is a HUGE BO market on New York Ave, and all over DC.
We’re in a recession, ppl losing jobs, so let them make some $!