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There must be some leeway on this, since I've seen plenty of US films and TV shows where likenesses of famous people have been used (often to poke fun at the real person) and they can't all have given their permission.
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Given the way the issue was stated in the opening post, I took it as given that we were talking about
commercial exploitation, use in advertising, implied product endorsements, etc. Parody and satire aren't commercials exploitation in the strict sense. Political use of images, voices, film, etc. of the living and dead are pretty much a free-fire zone in this country because that's the one form of expression that the Framers
indisputably intended to protect. And some non-endorsement use may also be permissible. If I ran a recuiting ad for a volunteer service organization I doubt the Kennedy estate could do anything about it if all I did was quote the line, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Hell, I could probably use that video clip in ad advertisement for a commercial entity announcing a major donation to a charity. ("John F. Kennedy said..." "And in that tradition CrapCo industries is donating 5 million dollars to the survivors of hurricane Katrina." They're quoting him, not implying that he did or would support their company.)
There are certainly grey areas. But if you slap a picture of Elvis on the popcorn maker you're selling and advertise it as "The one the King used to pop", you're going to be hearing from a few lawyers, I promise you.
Regards,
Joe