I've been wondering about this for some time now. Does the President own the copyright to his name?
Recently there has been a lot of merchandise with his name on it - with people in the distribution chain, like the Chinese makers of the blank items, the American companies putting the logos on them, the distribution companies spreading them among the merchants, the merchants selling them, and the landlords collecting rent from the merchants (and the government collecting the sales and income tax). So, a lot of people make a lot of money by using his name and slogan. In a capitalist society, this means that he should be getting royalties.
Does he, or does the copyright of his name belong to the US people. How about the Ty dolls of his kids? Who owns the copyright of their names?
Please keep this apolitical. This is an economic/legal inquiry.
Recently there has been a lot of merchandise with his name on it - with people in the distribution chain, like the Chinese makers of the blank items, the American companies putting the logos on them, the distribution companies spreading them among the merchants, the merchants selling them, and the landlords collecting rent from the merchants (and the government collecting the sales and income tax). So, a lot of people make a lot of money by using his name and slogan. In a capitalist society, this means that he should be getting royalties.
Does he, or does the copyright of his name belong to the US people. How about the Ty dolls of his kids? Who owns the copyright of their names?
Please keep this apolitical. This is an economic/legal inquiry.