# Reanimating the dead - who gets the money? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549 "2012-05-30T14:46:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/1 "2012-05-30T14:46:50Z")
Ok. In Obama dies a week from now. Get’s shot by a degranged Mormon. Twenty years time I want to sell a food stuff. It’s something Obama loved. I use computers to bring him back to sell my stuff, using the old footage of him to create a seemless 3D animation which, using an autotuned voice to sound just like the real deal, expresses his undying love for my product. Who needs to be paid, or is it even legal? (I know it’s legal because it’s been sorta done, but I’m curious about the legalities). ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/2 "2012-05-30T14:54:09Z")
Well, we could check who got the money when they used old John Wayne footage to sell beer, or old Groucho Marx footage to sell Diet Coke. Don’t need a hypothetical Presidential assassination to set this one up. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/3 "2012-05-30T14:56:50Z")
Wouldn’t the estate retain the rights to their “likeness”? That how it works for Elvis and Marilyn I believe. BTW, I thought this thread was going to be about true re-animation in which Dr. Frankenstein would have to be paid something… ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/4 "2012-05-30T14:58:52Z")
There are laws covering this. See for example: [http://www.jonathanpinkesq.com/the-right-of-publicity-and-dead-people-a-happy-birthday-to-elvis](http://www.jonathanpinkesq.com/the-right-of-publicity-and-dead-people-a-happy-birthday-to-elvis) > **[Law Decides Who Owns a Dead Star's Image](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15198298)** > > A new California law allows famous people to pass along the rights to their image as part of their estates. As a result of the retroactive law, an archive of Marilyn Monroe shots owned by her favorite photographer now belongs to the wife of her... But you can see it’s complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/5 "2012-05-30T15:06:38Z")
I thought it was going to be about whether a reanimated Obama has a claim on the Obama estate, which is a good question. Presumably his will does not have a clause setting money aside “in the event of my untimely resurrection.” So he wakes up from the grave, impoverished and no longer married (since death has done\* them part)—I suppose shilling for the reanimator is then, in fact, the easiest way for him to earn a living. Of course, I don’t think Zombie Obama would be an effective shill, what with Deathers questioning his authenticity. “Where’s the long-form Death Certificate? I bet he’s really rotting away in a Kenyan mosque.” \*Yes, I know “death do us part” is a different grammatical construction: it’s a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/6 "2012-05-30T15:08:45Z")
In my hypothetical though, we aren’t using footage - we’re constructing new material using a computer, designed to be indistinguishable from the dead person. Does that effect matters? Also, how long do image rights last for? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/7 "2012-05-30T15:12:16Z")
California has by far the strictest law on the use of likenesses. Other states’ laws vary considerably in their power. I don’t know whose law would controlling if Obama died today. Maybe Illinois. The Lanham Act that’s mentioned is the federal trademark law and it’s much narrower, because it’s limited to registered trademarks. The president’s image is protected by federal laws while in office, but I’m not sure what happens afterward. Twenty years from now there will be new laws on this because it’s going to become a much huger issue. I can’t predict what they’ll look like or how much they will be flouted. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reanimating-the-dead-who-gets-the-money/623549/8 "2012-05-31T19:27:20Z")
This Wiki article touches on some of the legal questions: [Virtual actor - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_actor). I agree with **Exapno** , the law on this will become clearer in the near future, one way or the other, as such images become easier to generate, and if the public becomes more accepting of (and less creeped out by) them.