A Portrait of a Living Individual Cannot be Registered as a Trade-Mark Unless by Consent of the Individual Whose Portrait is Used, or, if a Minor, by Consent of his Legal Guardian
This section of the law is based on the recognized right of any person to prohibit the unauthorized reproduction of his portrait for any advertising purpose. In some of the states—New York, for example—there are state laws specifically forbidding such unauthorized reproduction.
Registered as a trade-mark by the Saturday Evening Post.
While the law prohibits the registration of a living individual's portrait as a trade-mark, without that person's consent, it is allowable to use the portrait of a historical character.
The trade-mark of the Robert Burns Cigar is a picture of the poet Burns, with his facsimile signature.
Pictures of Franklin, Napoleon, Henry Clay, Bismarck, and many other famous men are used as trade-marks. A cereal recently placed on the market under the name of "Washington Crisps" carries George Washington's portrait on the package.
Benjamin Franklin's face is registered as a trade-mark by the Curtis Publishing Company, and is printed in this connection on the editorial page of the Saturday Evening Post.
This face has been printed more times than any other portrait ever used in advertising.