Rick Prelinger writes: “Corbis, the image licensing company owned by Bill Gates, has bought the Roger Richman Agency, who represents, in its words, “a roster of legendary personalities including actors & actresses, comedians, musicians, film directors, sports figures, fictional characters and historical icons.”
“What Richman, and now Corbis/Gates, control includes “full persona usage, consisting of name, voice, signature and image (photo, illustration, animation and/or look-alike).” Dead or alive.
“And guess whose personas Gates now controls: Boris Karloff, Rod Serling, the Marx Brothers, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Isaac Asimov and yes, Bucky Fuller.
“As far as I know, this is the first time an image licensing company has integrated with a personality licensing company.”
(Thanks, Rick!)