Judge OK’s Use of Albert Einstein’s Image
A lawsuit by Hebrew University challenging the right of General Motors to use the image of Albert Einstein in an advertisement was dismissed in a U.S. court.
A Los Angeles District Court judge, Howard Matz , ruled last week that the protection of Einstein’s image expired 55 years after his death in 1955.
Hebrew University was an Einstein beneficiary and claimed it owns his right of publicity.
General Motors used a picture of Einstein purchased from Getty Images in a November 2009 advertisement in People Magazine for an SUV, according to the Detroit News. Einstein’s head was pasted on a muscular body under the headline “Ideas are sexy too.”
“[Einstein] did become the symbol and embodiment of genius. His persona has become thoroughly ingrained in our cultural heritage,” the ruling read, according to the Detroit News. “Now, nearly 60 years after his death, that persona should be freely available to those who seek to appropriate it as part of their own expression, even in tasteless ads.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
