With the exception of a few states in America, it appears that the Steve Jobs doll causing a stir in the media during the past week is good to go.
According to a recent discovery, Apple’s lawyers are shooting their mouths off, nothing more, nothing less. They can’t ban the sale of InIcons’ Steve Jobs figurine as they don’t own a form of intellectual property pertaining to the visionary genius.
And that’s mostly because he’s not among the living anymore. In most territories around the globe, image rights do not survive beyond the grave, according to a
piece by
paidContent.org.
There are, however, some states in which ‘personality rights’ do exist, including Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, California, and a few others.
But there’s no federal law that recognizes image rights after death, and a good example of that is a case in which it was ruled that no one had any exclusive rights to market Marilyn Monroe, the paper notes.
In conclusion, “Apple’s warning about the doll is an empty threat in most places.” And the name ‘Steve Jobs’ doesn’t even appear on the Cupertino giant’s list of registered trademarks.
This should come as good news to those eagerly waiting for the action figure to go on sale next month.
Some ‘specimens’ are already available to buy for exaggerated prices via eBay, but now you can rest assured that you’ll be able to grab one for 99 bucks come February.
A noteworthy aspect about InIcons’ Steve Jobs doll is the degree to which it resembles the late Apple co-founder. Another thing is the generous package containing numerous accessories. Finally, there’s the marketing.
For the first time since Steve Jobs figurines became cool, a company is actually going to great lengths to create a doll that does Jobs justice. It’s not only a remarkable piece of work in and of itself, it’s also advertised in the best way possible - through the man’s famous quotes.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the iGenius would have condoned it.
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