Apple is threatening to sue a Chinese company that plans to come out with a Steve Jobs doll next month, claiming to own rights to Jobs’ likeness. But PaidContent says there’s a problem with that: Such rights, with few exceptions, do not apply to dead people.
Under American law, so-called “personality rights” exist only at the state level—there is no federal law. And only about a dozen states recognize image rights after death. Oddly, it is Indiana that has the strongest protection, restricting commercial use of a person’s image for 100 years after their passing.
