Lost documents belong to us! so claims the King Family Estate, even though they didn't know these documents ever existed!!!
AJC Link (will copy as sometimes it requires subscription)
They sold a bunch of papers to the city of Atlanta recently for $32 million, a fraudulent waste of taxpayer money, and so they seem to think they own anything anyone has related to King's writing unless something documents otherwise? I wonder what would be good enough to document ownership that they would not be able to challenge?
These kids current earn a living without exploiting their fathers work.
Anonymous friend of King's offers folder of documents for auction, but kin say they belong to estate.
By ERNIE SUGGS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/03/07
Months after a massive collection of papers once belonging to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was saved from the auction block, a folder containing 25 documents reputed to be more of his writings is set to go to the highest bidder in two weeks.
But a King estate spokesman is promising to fight the sale, saying the papers rightfully belong to the estate.
For close to 40 years, the collection rested in the basement of an old friend of King's. She said she secured the papers as part of a debt settlement with the old WERD radio station, which shared the building that housed the King-led Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Auburn Avenue.
The documents, in a faded green folder, include handwritten notes and typed speeches, letters to and from King, statements and position papers. All the documents are from the early-to-mid-1960s, auction organizers said, but they have not yet been authenticated or appraised. Still, auction organizers expect the documents to bring at least $250,000.
"These papers are Library of Congress stuff," said Paul Brown, owner of Gallery 63 in Atlanta, which is hosting the auction. "They need to be archived in a museum, in a moisture- and light-controlled environment. Ideally, I would like to see them go to a museum, where they can be shared. But I have no control over who the high bidder will be or how much they will offer."
But the King family and estate, which recently sold a collection of papers to the city of Atlanta for $32 million, see things differently.
Isaac Newton Farris, president and chief executive officer of the King Center, the facility and organization honoring King, said he had no idea this set of papers existed until a reporter called him Monday. He said he would immediately move to halt the auction.
"There is no such thing as a separate collection," Farris said. "Unless somebody has documentation that [King] has given them this, the King estate owns that."
Through the estate, the King family has aggressively protected King's likeness, image and writings.
Several experts familiar with intellectual property law said depending on how the woman, who wants to remain anonymous, got the papers, she might have the right to sell them, although the Kings could still control the content.
"The main thing to keep in mind is the distinction about who owns the physical property and who owns the intellectual property," said Doug Isenberg, an Atlanta attorney and past chairman of the State Bar of Georgia's Intellectual Law section. "I assume she came into the papers legally and has the legal right to keep them, but that doesn't mean she has the right to display or publish them. The King family might own the copyright."
Georgia State University law professor Michael Landau, an expert in intellectual property law, agreed if the woman received the papers legally, she has the right to sell them.
"The real key issue is how the radio station got them and how she got them," Landau said. "If it is a situation that they were given to them by Dr. King or they were left there by him, there could be a claim that they were abandoned. ... If she has ownership of the letters, she can sell them."
The possible auction of the papers comes as the city is still basking in the glow of the $32 million collection of thousands of King papers that had been stored in his wife Coretta Scott King's basement for 40 years. That collection, which was set to be auctioned last year, was purchased by a group of corporate, government and private donors pulled together by Mayor Shirley Franklin. The papers were donated to Morehouse College and are being cared for by curators at the Robert W. Woodruff Library.
Part of the collection, which is envisioned as the foundation of a proposed civil rights museum in Atlanta, is on display at the Atlanta History Center.
Brown, of the auction gallery, said he expected the collection to fetch $250,000.
"Obviously, what we are selling is a much smaller find than what the King family had in their possession, but it is no less important as a piece of American history," Brown said. "I can't stress enough the value these papers contain as pages chronicling the civil rights movement."
Brown is vacationing and said he would not make the papers available for viewing until next week. His Gallery 63 is the consignment arm of his family's Red Baron's Antiques, a well-known Buckhead antique and auction house.
Brown said he was approached two months ago by an attorney representing the owner of the papers. Brown said the owner lives in Maryland, but grew up in the Auburn Avenue area and knew King as a child.
"She is old and doesn't want to be in the spotlight," Brown said.
Brown said the woman had a loose affiliation with WERD, the nation's first black-owned radio station. Legend has it that when King wanted to make an address or statement, he would bang a broomstick on the ceiling and someone from WERD would lower a microphone for him to talk from the comfort of his own office, then located at the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue.
It's not clear how the radio station got the papers.
As for how the anonymous woman got them, Brown said at some point she and her husband loaned the struggling radio station money. According to Brown, when she attempted to collect, the radio station couldn't pay.
"She wanted something, so in lieu of payment, she was given these papers," Brown said.
According to Brown and his company's Web site, the collection includes:
? An invitation from an Italian television station for King to appear on a telecast. King writes in the margin, "For Andy [Andrew Young]. Tell them I would be happy to appear ... in October or November."
? His 1964 "President's Annual Report" to the SCLC, in which King worried over how violent the times had become.
"One of the most brutal acts of this phase of the movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and the murder of five children," he wrote on Sept. 29, 1964, likely about the four girls killed during the bombing in Birmingham and a 13-year-old boy killed by whites later that day. "We had not yet recuperated from this harsh reality when the twisted mind of Lee Harvey Oswald struck down our beloved President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy."
AJC Link (will copy as sometimes it requires subscription)
They sold a bunch of papers to the city of Atlanta recently for $32 million, a fraudulent waste of taxpayer money, and so they seem to think they own anything anyone has related to King's writing unless something documents otherwise? I wonder what would be good enough to document ownership that they would not be able to challenge?
These kids current earn a living without exploiting their fathers work.
Anonymous friend of King's offers folder of documents for auction, but kin say they belong to estate.
By ERNIE SUGGS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/03/07
Months after a massive collection of papers once belonging to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was saved from the auction block, a folder containing 25 documents reputed to be more of his writings is set to go to the highest bidder in two weeks.
But a King estate spokesman is promising to fight the sale, saying the papers rightfully belong to the estate.
For close to 40 years, the collection rested in the basement of an old friend of King's. She said she secured the papers as part of a debt settlement with the old WERD radio station, which shared the building that housed the King-led Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Auburn Avenue.
The documents, in a faded green folder, include handwritten notes and typed speeches, letters to and from King, statements and position papers. All the documents are from the early-to-mid-1960s, auction organizers said, but they have not yet been authenticated or appraised. Still, auction organizers expect the documents to bring at least $250,000.
"These papers are Library of Congress stuff," said Paul Brown, owner of Gallery 63 in Atlanta, which is hosting the auction. "They need to be archived in a museum, in a moisture- and light-controlled environment. Ideally, I would like to see them go to a museum, where they can be shared. But I have no control over who the high bidder will be or how much they will offer."
But the King family and estate, which recently sold a collection of papers to the city of Atlanta for $32 million, see things differently.
Isaac Newton Farris, president and chief executive officer of the King Center, the facility and organization honoring King, said he had no idea this set of papers existed until a reporter called him Monday. He said he would immediately move to halt the auction.
"There is no such thing as a separate collection," Farris said. "Unless somebody has documentation that [King] has given them this, the King estate owns that."
Through the estate, the King family has aggressively protected King's likeness, image and writings.
Several experts familiar with intellectual property law said depending on how the woman, who wants to remain anonymous, got the papers, she might have the right to sell them, although the Kings could still control the content.
"The main thing to keep in mind is the distinction about who owns the physical property and who owns the intellectual property," said Doug Isenberg, an Atlanta attorney and past chairman of the State Bar of Georgia's Intellectual Law section. "I assume she came into the papers legally and has the legal right to keep them, but that doesn't mean she has the right to display or publish them. The King family might own the copyright."
Georgia State University law professor Michael Landau, an expert in intellectual property law, agreed if the woman received the papers legally, she has the right to sell them.
"The real key issue is how the radio station got them and how she got them," Landau said. "If it is a situation that they were given to them by Dr. King or they were left there by him, there could be a claim that they were abandoned. ... If she has ownership of the letters, she can sell them."
The possible auction of the papers comes as the city is still basking in the glow of the $32 million collection of thousands of King papers that had been stored in his wife Coretta Scott King's basement for 40 years. That collection, which was set to be auctioned last year, was purchased by a group of corporate, government and private donors pulled together by Mayor Shirley Franklin. The papers were donated to Morehouse College and are being cared for by curators at the Robert W. Woodruff Library.
Part of the collection, which is envisioned as the foundation of a proposed civil rights museum in Atlanta, is on display at the Atlanta History Center.
Brown, of the auction gallery, said he expected the collection to fetch $250,000.
"Obviously, what we are selling is a much smaller find than what the King family had in their possession, but it is no less important as a piece of American history," Brown said. "I can't stress enough the value these papers contain as pages chronicling the civil rights movement."
Brown is vacationing and said he would not make the papers available for viewing until next week. His Gallery 63 is the consignment arm of his family's Red Baron's Antiques, a well-known Buckhead antique and auction house.
Brown said he was approached two months ago by an attorney representing the owner of the papers. Brown said the owner lives in Maryland, but grew up in the Auburn Avenue area and knew King as a child.
"She is old and doesn't want to be in the spotlight," Brown said.
Brown said the woman had a loose affiliation with WERD, the nation's first black-owned radio station. Legend has it that when King wanted to make an address or statement, he would bang a broomstick on the ceiling and someone from WERD would lower a microphone for him to talk from the comfort of his own office, then located at the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue.
It's not clear how the radio station got the papers.
As for how the anonymous woman got them, Brown said at some point she and her husband loaned the struggling radio station money. According to Brown, when she attempted to collect, the radio station couldn't pay.
"She wanted something, so in lieu of payment, she was given these papers," Brown said.
According to Brown and his company's Web site, the collection includes:
? An invitation from an Italian television station for King to appear on a telecast. King writes in the margin, "For Andy [Andrew Young]. Tell them I would be happy to appear ... in October or November."
? His 1964 "President's Annual Report" to the SCLC, in which King worried over how violent the times had become.
"One of the most brutal acts of this phase of the movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and the murder of five children," he wrote on Sept. 29, 1964, likely about the four girls killed during the bombing in Birmingham and a 13-year-old boy killed by whites later that day. "We had not yet recuperated from this harsh reality when the twisted mind of Lee Harvey Oswald struck down our beloved President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy."
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