Celebrity posters: rights doubt

[urlo]

We've been asked by an italian magazine to work on a serie of posters about music celebrities, portraits of famous people like Hendrix, Zappa and so on.
The magazine will sell the posters which will be printed in limited silkscreen editions.
We won't use any photo, the posters will be Malleus' interpretation of artists.
Now the question is: how does it work with rights for using the image of the artists?

[DenisMutter]

I'm watching this topic. interesting question.

[macthulhu]

Check out this article from findlaw.com...
http://library.findlaw.com/2003/Dec/1/133182.html


Of particular interest will be the following paragraph...

California, The Three Stooges and the 'Transformative' Test

It was the Supreme Court of California that eventually dealt directly with the difficult issue of the tension between The First Amendment's protection of an artist's use of an image and the subject's right of publicity. In Comedy III Productions, Inc. v. Saderup,3 the defendant, an artist, sold lithographs and T-shirts bearing a likeness of the Three Stooges reproduced from a charcoal drawing he had made. As an initial matter, the Court determined that because Saderup's drawing was an 'expressive' work, and not simply an advertisement or endorsement of a product, it was entitled to a higher level of First Amendment protection. Next, the Court found that celebrities have a public meaning, and that using their likeness in art helped express viewpoints or to promote debate on public issues. The Court also stated that works of art are protected by the First Amendment even when expressed through non-traditional mediums, such as T-shirts.


If you Google "celebrity likeness rights", you'll find tons of info.

[RADAR]

talk to that old guy who is a lawyer, he does posters, he's old, he's a lawyer.

[standard]

it seems to me it's not your problem, it'd be the magazine's. you're just a hired gun, no? Just put a not-my-problem clause into your contract.

[urlo]

Thanks a lot.
Well, nobody ever arrested Warhol i Guess
But I'm sure there are untachable celebrities...
Especially if we've to work on some italian ones...

[bdix]

the laws "somewhere in Europe" are a lot different than the United States, so I wouldn't latch on to any advice here.

[standard]

there's a thick line between art and commerce.

[urlo]

the laws "somewhere in Europe" are a lot different than the United States, so I wouldn't latch on to any advice here.

Yes, I know.
It's only to understand.
Somewhere in Europe is Italy

[vastagh]

rights and clearances are a pain in the ass.

we got tons of shit and actually had to re-do an entire on-air package because we used "recognizeable silouettes"

if you're just the gun and you get paid before the mag publishes it I say let them take the hit if it comes.

make sure you get copies of everything before the shit hits the fan. that way you'll have some 'collectors items'