In skimming through an article about the renovation of Graceland over on CNN's website, I noticed a small mention down toward the bottom of the article:CKX, which also owns the rights to former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali's name and image, might have a better shot at other such deals as a private company, since celebrities are often reluctant to have their financial dealings made public, said Bear Stearns analyst Christopher Ensley.Now this CKX of mention is said, earlier in the article to be...
the New York-based company that controls all things Elvis...and they do have a website that has a small Ali logo over on the right-hand side.
Now I'm okay with the whole marketing Elivs thing. He's dead.
But - and I could be wrong about this as I don't see the guy on any regular basis - I'm pretty sure that Muhammad Ali is still alive. I mean, he did apparently just buy a house in Jefferson County (where Louisville is, donchaknow).
How can a company own the rights to a living person's name and image?
Does this mean that Ali has had to revert back to his old name because he doesn't own the rights anymore?
Has Ali had to stop signing autographs?
Can he no longer have his family take pictures of him when they get together at Thanksgiving?
What's the deal?
6 comments:
makes me sick BUT...i think i'd sell my name and image for boat load of cash. it's not his soul or anything right? :-)
I don't think it was his soul that he sold, but I'm hoping that, if it was, he got more boatloads of cash.
Speaking of which, as a thorough non-believer in the existance of an eternal soul, I'll happily make mine available for purchase by any interested parties.
I want to keep full rights to my name and likeness, but the soul is now officially on the block.
If I can get enough for a peanut-butter malt at The Cone, then i'm thinking that I'm coming out ahead in the game.
Heck, I wasn't using the soul anyway...
He has not been physically able to sign his autograph the past few years I believe. As for having his pic taken, I see him on the news all the time, I believe this is only licensing rights for his name and image. For example you can't call a new bar "Ali's" with a boxing theme, but if you see him out you can take a pic with him.
At least that is my understanding.
Because he's apparently afraid to post a comment, here's the answer I got from CoachSullivan (my resident Ali expert)...
Ali sold rights to his name/likeness/etc two years back for $100 million and a small percentage of the yearly profits coming from such a sale. He'd gotten screwed out of a ton of money by previous managers and some bad business deals, so this was a way to recoup those losses and insure financial security for his family after he's gone (he really wasn't well off).
Yeah when I say soul I think more like will. No eternal soul belief here either.
The cone does a great PB shake for sure!
I dunno, Lakes...I'm all about the PB malts...
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