John Gapper’s interesting article about copyright (“Mickey Mouse should help others to escape copyright”, Opinion, January 6) reminded me of an occasion in the late 1990s when the spirit of Marilyn Monroe came calling on our modest factory unit in Bo’ness, West Lothian.
We had earlier been asked by a well-known London visitor attraction to create a graphic for T-shirts, based on their collection. The one we submitted featured Monroe’s famous lips with the words “I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful”.
A week after the illustration was sent for approval we received a writ from an American lawyer demanding we cease and desist in this appalling infringement of Monroe’s image and copyright. The famous visitor attraction had bowed to the American lawyers’ threats and the products never came to be. The lawyers had won. My question is who on earth benefits from Marilyn Monroe’s estate — except the lawyers?
Ian Peter MacDonald
Spean Bridge, Inverness-shire, UK
