In Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, 603 P.2d 425 (Cal. 1979), the heirs of Béla Lugosi sued Universal Studios in 1966 for using his personality rights without the heirs' permission. The court ruled in favor of the Lugosi heirs, but Universal Studios won the case in an appeal to the California Supreme Court, where it was determined that a dead person had no right to his likeness, and any rights that existed did not pass to his heirs.
Read more about Lugosi V. Universal Pictures: History, Ruling, Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words universal and/or pictures:
“Really to see the sun rise or go down every day, so to relate ourselves to a universal fact, would preserve us sane forever.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is no one kind of thing that we ‘perceive’ but many different kinds, the number being reducible if at all by scientific investigation and not by philosophy: pens are in many ways though not in all ways unlike rainbows, which are in many ways though not in all ways unlike after-images, which in turn are in many ways but not in all ways unlike pictures on the cinema-screen—and so on.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)