Be mindful, they say, of your Robert Johnson property these days. His soul may be ne'er more, but the blues pioneer's physical imprint spans all of two known photographs.
The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the son of the Faustian delta bluesman retains the rights to both known photographs of his father.
If you don't know much about the Johnson legend, in short, it intimates that the guitarist sold his soul to Satan at the crossroads off Highway 61. Johnson recorded a small measure of songs--passing away mysteriously at that black magic age of 27.
The photos of him, of course, were taken before he died in 1938. One featured the musician in a suit and fedora with a guitar strung across his lap; the other is an impromptu photo booth shot highlighting a cigarette in his mouth.
The rights to these pictures have been ruled property of his son, Cluad Johnson, who was named Johnson's sole heir in 1998.
The descendants of Carrie Harris Thompson, a half-sister of Robert Johnson, had filed suit against Claud Johnson, Sony Music Entertainment and a promoter named Stephen C. LaVere.
Beware, then, of posting any trademarked property...you might need the devil indeed to afford the consequences.
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