Well, I'll try....

Posted by Michaelson from em12-686.utsi.edu on June 09, 1999 at 10:09:13:

In Reply to: Re: His likeness...Michaelson had a possible explanation in a past post posted by BMan on June 08, 1999 at 20:12:35:

: : : : :PS. Not very good at finishing things tonite, but if his advcentures weren't publisized how else would Chatter Lal be familiar("the eminent archeologist")? Perhaps from his amazing contributions to the museum???

: : : There was an article about his Iceland dig in National Archaeology. You know, the Jastro expedition - he was the field director. He must have had other stuff published as well... it's either publish or perish in the archaeological world.

: : : Mark

: : : P.S. This is in Fate of Atlantis in case anybody doesn't already know.

: :
: : That picture of him in National Archeology was obviously taken no more than a few years before Fate of Atlantis took place (1939), since it looked like Harrison Ford and not like Sean Patrick Flannery. :)

: : Which brings up an interesting point:

: : On page 66 of the December 1998 issue of PC Gamer (the one with the huge article on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine), it says, "The Indy voice is not, of course, that of Harrison Ford himself. In fact, because the Indiana Jones character and Ford's likeness exist as separate copyrights, an interesting hurdle the team must face is making the character look and sound like Indy... but not like Ford."

: : Yet the picture of Indy's face in National Archeolgy (in the Fate of Atlantis game) is CLEARLY Harrison Ford's. I wonder how they got away with that... hmm...

: :
: : -G

: This came up several months back. I raised the same point, only I pointed out that the novels all feature Ford's likeness on the covers. I forgot about FoA.

: Michaelson provided an explananation as to how sometimes a likeness of Ford is OK, and how in the case of the Infernal Machine, it may not be allowed.

: You can dig through old posts, or perhaps Michaelson can give us a brief recap. I'd try, but I might leave out something vital to the understanding of the issue.

: BMan
: BMan

In a nut shell, a person's "likeness" or personal image is a privately owned entity by that individual, as to appear in any newspaper story in picture or TV interview an appearance release must be obtained and signed by the person appearing in said article, unless it is an act of war or the like. In packaging, such as the novels et.al, Ford's likeness is owned in a sort of joint fashion, the copyright law ownership of Ford himself and the use of his image, and LucasFilm regarding the use of Indiana Jones. It can only be assumed that in Ford's contract his image as IJ is tied directly to any use by a approved and licensed contractor of LucasFilm. Dark Horse comics would have that agreement, as Ford's image has been used consistantly on every cover of their IJ comic series, Marvel may not have, as they have a cartoonish version of IJ on all their covers, but none that can actually be stated as being Ford's image, so their contract may have been limited to the name use only (a lot cheaper way to go contract wise). The novels definately have Ford's image, and as you can tell, most of the covers of the novels appear to be reworks of most of the old movie posters, so their contract must be the same as Dark Horse. Bottom line, image usage is all dependent on what the contract allows, the clauses of the contract as to whose image you can and cannot use, and basic Federal copyright law interperatation. (yes, we do teach "Law and Ethics" here at the Institute, especially regarding patent and copyright law). It isn't all cut and dry, but there are pretty basic rules that exist on the "cans and can'ts" of image usage. We all have this image protection by law. Hope this helps a little. Regards. Michaelson

Follow Ups:

Thanks for the recap. nm BMan 06:21:58 6/12/99 (0)

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: : : : : :PS. Not very good at finishing things tonite, but if his advcentures weren't publisized how else would Chatter Lal be familiar("the eminent archeologist")?  Perhaps from his amazing contributions to the museum???

: : : : There was an article about his Iceland dig in National Archaeology.  You know, the Jastro expedition - he was the field director.  He must have had other stuff published as well... it's either publish or perish in the archaeological world.

: : : : Mark

: : : : P.S.  This is in Fate of Atlantis in case anybody doesn't already know.

: : : 
: : : That picture of him in National Archeology was obviously taken no more than a few years before Fate of Atlantis took place (1939), since it looked like Harrison Ford and not like Sean Patrick Flannery.   :)

: : : Which brings up an interesting point:

: : : On page 66 of the December 1998 issue of PC Gamer (the one with the huge article on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine), it says, "The Indy voice is not, of course, that of Harrison Ford himself.  In fact, because the Indiana Jones character and Ford's likeness exist as separate copyrights, an interesting hurdle the team must face is making the character look and sound like Indy... but not like Ford."

: : : Yet the picture of Indy's face in National Archeolgy (in the Fate of Atlantis game) is CLEARLY Harrison Ford's.  I wonder how they got away with that... hmm...

: : : 
: : : -G

: : This came up several months back.  I raised the same point, only I pointed out that the novels all feature Ford's likeness on the covers.  I forgot about FoA.

: : Michaelson provided an explananation as to how sometimes a likeness of Ford is OK, and how in the case of the Infernal Machine, it may not be allowed.

: : You can dig through old posts, or perhaps Michaelson can give us a brief recap.  I'd try, but I might leave out something vital to the understanding of the issue.

: : BMan
: : BMan

: In a nut shell, a person's "likeness" or personal image is a privately owned entity by that individual, as to appear in any newspaper story in picture or TV interview an appearance release must be obtained and signed by the person appearing in said article, unless it is an act of war or the like. In packaging, such as the novels et.al, Ford's likeness is owned in a sort of joint fashion, the copyright law ownership of Ford himself and the use of his image, and LucasFilm regarding the use of Indiana Jones. It can only be assumed that in Ford's contract his image as IJ is tied directly to any use by a approved and licensed contractor of LucasFilm. Dark Horse comics would have that agreement, as Ford's image has been used consistantly on every cover of their IJ comic series, Marvel may not have, as they have a cartoonish version of IJ on all their covers, but none that can actually be stated as being Ford's image, so their contract may have been limited to the name use only (a lot cheaper way to go contract wise). The novels definately have Ford's image, and as you can tell, most of the covers of the novels appear to be reworks of most of the old movie posters, so their contract must be the same as Dark Horse. Bottom line, image usage is all dependent on what the contract allows, the clauses of the contract as to whose image you can and cannot use, and basic Federal copyright law interperatation. (yes, we do teach "Law and Ethics" here at the Institute, especially regarding patent and copyright law). It isn't all cut and dry, but there are pretty basic rules that exist on the "cans and can'ts" of image usage. We all have this image protection by law. Hope this helps a little. Regards. Michaelson

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