COPYCENSE

“It is the time of year when students are taught about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, so passionately delivered that his call for freedom changed U.S. history. Once heard, it is impossible to forget.

“But many students won’t get to hear it — and most who do will hear only snippets, educators and historians said. And that, they said, is affecting the legacy of the preeminent civil rights leader, whose life will be honored tomorrow with an annual federal holiday. All of King’s speeches and papers are owned by his family, which has gone to court several times since the 1990s to protect its copyright.”

Valerie Strauss. King’s Fiery Speech Rarely Heard. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 15, 2006.

See also:

The King Center. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. No date.

To seek permission to use the intellectual property of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which is owned by the King Estate and which includes right of publicity to his name, likeness and image; his copyrighted words; and his recorded voice; please contact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), manager of the King Estate. Please send all correspondence to the attention of the Licensing Department, IPM, 449 Auburn Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30312, or fax the request to: 404-526-8969, or email any questions to: licensing@i-p-m.com. NOTE: IPM does not provide legal advice in the area of intellectual property law. If your particular circumstance requires the solicitation of a legal opinion, we strongly suggest that you see the advice of an attorney.

Stanford University, The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. King Papers Project — Copyright Information. No date.

CopyCense. Activists Fight to Save ‘Eyes on the Prize.’ Feb. 3, 2005.

DeNeen L. Brown and Hamil R. Harris. A Struggle for Rights: “Eyes on the Prize” Mired in Money Battle. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 17, 2005.

Andrew Leonard. Eyes On Your Copyrighted Prize. Salon.com. Jan. 5, 2005.

Katie Dean. Bleary Days for Eyes on the Prize. Wired News. Dec. 22, 2004.

J.D. Mullane. You Need a License to Quote Martin Luther King Jr. phillyBurbs.com. Aug. 27, 2003.

The King Center. CBS News and the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Reach Agreement On Use of Footage of Dr. King’s Speeches. (Press Release) July 12, 2000.

David N. Schachter. MLK Speech At Heart of Copyright Dispute. Denver Business Journal. January 28, 2000.

Legal Information Institute. Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. Inc. v. CBS Inc. (13 F. Supp.2d 1347, 11th Cir. 1999). Nov. 5, 1999.

Update:

American Rhetoric. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “I Have a Dream.” (Attribution: CopyCense first discovered American Rhetoric’s compilation of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech through Digitization 101, edited by Jill Hurst-Wahl.)

The Patry Copyright Blog. Martin Luther King, Jr. Jan. 17, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.