Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Should “Bankable Personas” Survive as Estate Assets?

Bill Cosby reportedly nudged Massachusetts to consider a statute that preserves a deceased celebrity's identity as an estate asset for 70 years. Already passed by the Massachusetts Senate, the legislation will become law if approved by the House. Massachusetts then would  become the 16th state to establish the right of publicity as an inheritable asset.

Leon Neyfakh surveys the pros and cons of preserving a celebrity's identity in this Boston Globe article.
Mad Men era note: Before Bill Cosby became a familiar father figure on sitcoms, he gained television stardom on I Spy. In that show Robert Culp and Cosby played CIA types, traipsing around the world under cover as a tennis player and his trainer/manager. A few NBC affiliates were so shocked by a black leading man they refused to run the show. For at least the first two of its three seasons on NBC – a big-deal network back then – I Spy was pretty cool.

3 comments:

Jim Gust said...

On my recent trip to visit my parents in Minneapolis, I arranged for the installation of wireless internet in their home. They don't have a computer, but they just got a "smart" TV, and the remote has a Netflix button on it. So I also got them an account.

First thing my Dad chose to watch was Columbo, from 1971. The guest villain was Robert Culp, who was quite good. Great show.

JLM said...

Yup, we watched that Columbo episode on Netflix not long ago. The series has aged quite well.

Unknown said...

Hi! What a great post! You havae such a good point of view. It is very well said. Thank you so much for sharing this informative post and for sharing your posts with us. I'll be looking forward for your other posts as well. Keep it up and more power to you. Asset management refers to any system that monitors and maintains things of value to an entity or group. It may apply to both tangible assets such as buildings and to intangible concepts such as intellectual property and goodwill. Asset management is a systematic process of operating, maintaining, upgrading, and disposing of assets cost-effectively. Alternative views of asset management in the engineering environment are: The practice of managing assets to achieve the greatest return (particularly useful for productive assets such as plant and equipment), and the process of monitoring and maintaining facilities systems, with the objective of providing the best possible service to users (appropriate for public infrastructure assets). Investing without a plan or strategy can be a recipe for disaster. At Cabot Money Mangement, we believe that determining the proper asset allocation plan for our clients starts by understanding their needs. Do they need to save for retirement? How about college savings for their kids? Are they interested in allocating a portion of their funds to benefit their children in the future? The mix of investments in a client’s portfolio will contain a variety of investment vehicles tailored to each client’s goals, timeframe and tolerance for risk. Asset Management Boston