King-like copyright protectionism (Elvis, that is...)

Sorry to quote and run... this is from a story in The Scotsman ("When copyright is king").

When copyright is king

Campbell Deane

There's an old line that one of the perks of the job for lawyers who look after the estates of dead people is that their clients aren't around to tell them what to do. It came to mind last week when it was revealed that Elvis Aaron Presley may have roots in the village of Lonmay, Aberdeenshire, where one Andrew Presley was born before he sailed across the pond to the United States in 1745.

It was a story which inevitably tempted sad men in ill-fitting wigs and white jumpsuits to the scene, and invited speculation that the village could become somewhere the King's fans might want to visit. Maybe the local bed-and-breakfast could change its name to the Heartbreak Hotel?

Elvis spent only two hours of his life in Scotland (that famously brief stop-off at Prestwick Airport), but might have been slightly tickled by the idea of his fame being marked in the rather backwater location from where his forefathers came. He came from Southern poor white trash, but was always proud of his family and his roots.

In any event, it has now been decreed that no such thing will ever happen by lawyers for the Elvis estate. They greeted the happy news of their deceased client's Scottish connection with their customary heavy-handed copyright warning.

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Posted by joebeone at Marzo 30, 2004 08:52 AM | TrackBack