Intellectual Property Righst for Images Essay - 944 Words

1. What property rights are involved in the picture? These are complex questions about who has property rights in the picture of Tiger Woods. Lets first start with the individual contract Tiger Woods and General Mills has. If Tiger Woods and General Mills agree that General Mills has complete property rights of the picture, then General Mills, for the most part has complete rights as negotiated by the contract between the two parties. Any violation from this contract would be a breach of contract and could lead Tiger Woods to sue General Mills. An example would be General Mills posting the picture in a negative way that could be perceived as a defamation of character by Tiger Woods. For argument sake, lets say Tiger Woods gives†¦show more content†¦General Mills Terms used these rights strategically to their advantage while ensuring that their brand and identity is protected and not misused for any negative publicity. The property rights would be â€Å"owned by Tiger Woods or his representing estates, and reflective of any deals that they may have entered into on his behalf in regards to merchandising. 3. What can the owners do? General Mills is the owner of the Wheaties Box logo and image of Tiger Woods. However, the image of Tiger Woods would be owned by Woods himself (depending on the state) but used by General Mills with Woods’ permission. The U.S. recognizes the rights to publicity, which gives the right of a person to control his or her image, recognizing the image has economic value and gives the person the right to exploit their own image. General Mills has used celebrity images on their Wheaties cereal boxes for many years, with (\the permission of the celebrity. Once the image is used on the Wheaties box, General Mills owns the copyright. If someone wanted to use the Tiger Woods Wheaties box image, as well as the Wheaties logo, they would have to ask permission from General Mills or face copyright infringement penalties. General Mills is able to place the Wheaties Box image in a magazine or online since