She’d better have good proof that these two slaves are her ancestors. The obvious defense is to challenge her standing to bring suit.
Pictures belong to the photographer and not to the subject.
Harvard needs to tell these idiots to go pound sand.
Does she own the current copyright to these 1850 photographs? No? Then she should shut up.
Silently Harambe weeps.
But, everything is coll now that all those statues and battle flags have been destroyed. It’s like slavery never happened....
Ah, a new variation on erasing a past they don’t like.
Years ago my mom encountered something similar at auctions where books that had once been published by black Persons and black run organizations for black children (specifically The Brownies’ Book) were being bought not to collect but for the stated purpose by the black purchaser to destroy them.
I am of the opinion that intellectual printed property expires after 7 years, and then has to be renewed, and at some point in time it becomes PUBLIC domain. Like the King James Bible.
Benjamin Crump
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
The bottom line for me is that no matter what the law on the matter is, we all endure constant assaholic lectures from Harvard, Yale and other Ivy schools about how evil we are for being white. The talk about reparations comes from there. The talk about affirmative action comes from there.
They constantly beat us with the racism and white privilege and intersection whips.
And who are they? Harvard openly discriminates against orientals, and profits of slave photos. Yale Skull and Bones has a collection of American Indian skulls for their pagan rituals.
Can you imagine if you or I kept an Indian skull to dance naked around? The FBI would kick in your door at 5am with a warrant to search for violations of the NAGRPA act. Imagine if your business openly said “we want to hire fewer orientals”.
So I hope Harvard gets humiliated, embarrassed, and it costs them a lot of money.
The issue here, it seems to me, is not one of copyright or ownership of the daguerreotype, but of permission to use a person's likeness for commercial purposes without his permission.
The person whose likeness is at the center of the question is dead. Do that person's heirs or descendants have standing to sue on his behalf?
IDK. IANAL.
LOL!
It needs to be understood that the physical photographs are worth considerable money to a collector. The value of each one is certainly in 5 figures, possibly 6.
The alleged descendants must surely be aware of that factor.
Guess we should should burn every artifact of our past so no one ever gets offended again.
Well considering a lot of the seed capital to really get Harvard going - along with the rest of the Ivy League - came from the New England dominated slave trade industry, this seems entirely in keeping for Harvard. They’ve never been the least bit averse to profiting from slavery.
bookmark
Harvard has deep pockets, making them a target; however, they also have the best lawyers in the world.
Forget it, lady.