<blockquote>As you hopefully are aware, today is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's powerful, moving and memorable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream" target="_blank"><i>I have a dream...</i></a> speech. In a just world, that speech would be in the public domain. And, legally, <i>it might be</i>. While King did apparently <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-you-wont-see-or-hear-the-i-have-a-dream-speech/2013/08/27/09d2a07a-0e66-11e3-bdf6-e4fc677d94a1_story.html" target="_blank">send a copy</a> of the speech to the Copyright Office, he did so as an "unpublished work." There has been a dispute, then, about the speech itself, since that would be a publication. His estate, however, has argued that the speech was not a "general publication," but rather a "limited publication" and thus King retained a common law copyright -- and an appeals court appeared to agree, but the lawsuit over this was settled without a final ruling, and no one has challenged it since. However, King's estate has been <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090521/0346544960.shtml">ridiculously aggressive</a> in trying to <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120116/00402117411/how-ip-laws-have-locked-up-martin-luther-kings-brilliance.shtml">lock up his speeches</a> and <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130118/11244621727/martin-luther-kings-i-have-dream-video-taken-down-internet-freedom-day.shtml">take down</a> videos commemorating his talks, with a focus on this momentous speech.</blockquote>
via <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130828/02464324331/let-freedom-ka-ching-50th-anniversary-i-have-dream-att-can-use-speech-to-sell-phones-you-cant-post-it.shtml">Let Freedom Ka-Ching! On The 50th Anniversary Of 'I Have A Dream,' AT&amp;T Can Use The Speech To Sell Phones, But You Can't Post It | Techdirt</a>.