Mitchell Pacelle has an fine article in the March 22 Wall Street Journal, entitled "Blues Rifts: Snapshots Of a Music Legend Lead to Tug of War."
Pacelle reports on the long-running controversy over rights in the music, photos and memorabilia of Robert Johnson, blues legend inspiration to rock legends The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, among others.
Johnson died in poverty without a will in 1938. Heirs now fight over rights valued in the millions.
Of particular note is the legal battle over rare photos of the bluesman, such as that gracing the cover of Eric Clapton's recent tribute album, Me and Mr. Johnson.
Who owns the rights in a photograph taken 70 years ago? Is possession 9/10s of the law, or does the photographer, who ever that was, own the copyright? What if it is a photo-booth portrait, as one claimant suggests? Are published photos in the public domain? What about photos that have not been published?
Who stands in line as Robert Johnson's heir? His half sister? Or the man with a birth certificate listing his father as R.L.Johnson, laborer" and a declaration from a woman claiming to witness sexual relations between Johnson and the man's mother?
Last December, the Mississippi Supreme court ordered the case to proceed to trial. Will CNN and Larry King pick up on this?
