# Who owns the copyright to images of famous dead people?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright-to-images-of-famous-dead-people/320687>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright-to-images-of-famous-dead-people/320687 "2005-09-08T18:53:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright-to-images-of-famous-dead-people/320687/21 "2005-09-10T03:30:34Z")

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> [@acsenray](#):
>
> So, a registered trademarked in Israel will not have any effect on use that does not reach Israel.

This disclaimer appears on products produced by [The Baby Einstein Company](http://www.babyeinstein.com/), which is a division of Disney, which I’m pretty sure is not Israeli.

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright-to-images-of-famous-dead-people/320687/22 "2005-09-10T03:33:05Z")

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The Baby Einstein company also provides a link to a website on the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s website which provides a link to the Roger Richman Agency, who they state owns the rights to “the name, voice, signature, photographs, likeness and image of Albert Einstein.” I see the Richman Agency (now a division of Corbis) was mentioned earlier in the thread.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright-to-images-of-famous-dead-people/320687/23 "2005-09-10T05:56:09Z")

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More accurately, Hebrew University owns the rights, which are _administered_ by the Roger Richman Agency (which is now owned by Corbis).

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