Philosophy
by
Jerry Hirsch
October 18th, 2012
The Los Angeles Times
General Motors is winning the nerd wars.
Earlier this week, it prevailed against Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a lawsuit over the use of the image of Albert Einstein in a People magazine advertisement in 2009.
...
According to the Detroit News, the Einstein ad for the GMC Terrain SUV depicted the face of the famous physicist on top of a fit, muscular man with the line, "Ideas are sexy too."
The Israeli university owns Einstein's publicity rights and sued the automaker. But U.S. District Judge Howard Matz ruled Monday that Einstein is perhaps the ultimate public figure.
Matz wrote that Einstein is "the symbol and embodiment of genius. His persona has become thoroughly ingrained in our cultural heritage. Now, nearly 60 years after his death, that persona should be freely available to those who seek to appropriate it as part of their own expression, even in tasteless ads."
GM had said that it believed that the Leo Burnett agency that worked on the advertisement had purchased a legitimate license to the image from Getty Images. The automaker declined to comment on the resolution of the lawsuit.
- Why Do We Love Einstein?
Today is Einstein's birthday and as I put the finishing touches on the manuscript, Einstein's Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion, I am thinking about the question in the last chapter -- why do we love Einstein?...
- "mistaken Identity And Mirror Images"...quirky Stories
Albert Einstein accepted a “special” visiting professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in February 1920. Although his appointment should have been a mere formality, it took until October of that year before Einstein could occupy...
- 80,000 Einstein Documents Now Online
"Original Einstein manuscripts posted online"byDaniel EstrinMarch 19th, 2012Associated PressAlbert Einstein's complete archives — from personal correspondence with half a dozen lovers to notebooks scribbled with his groundbreaking scientific research...
- "another Einstein?" Poll
Will there ever be an iconic figure like Einstein again? Yes...6 No...1 Perhaps...3 Hard to predict, but I doubt it. Einstein was historically in the right place at the right time. Einstein was part of the Classical Age of Physics, explained a far reaching...
- "a Brain Is A Terrible Thing To Lose"--al Gore
I might as well address this issue for it inevitably comes up in discussions about Einstein and that is the story of Einstein's brain. Einstein died on April 18th, 1955 at the age of seventy six in Princeton, New Jersey from heart failure. An autopsy...
Philosophy
Einstein and the General Motors advertisement
"GM wins Einstein ad lawsuit..."
by
Jerry Hirsch
October 18th, 2012
The Los Angeles Times
General Motors is winning the nerd wars.
Earlier this week, it prevailed against Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a lawsuit over the use of the image of Albert Einstein in a People magazine advertisement in 2009.
...
According to the Detroit News, the Einstein ad for the GMC Terrain SUV depicted the face of the famous physicist on top of a fit, muscular man with the line, "Ideas are sexy too."
The Israeli university owns Einstein's publicity rights and sued the automaker. But U.S. District Judge Howard Matz ruled Monday that Einstein is perhaps the ultimate public figure.
Matz wrote that Einstein is "the symbol and embodiment of genius. His persona has become thoroughly ingrained in our cultural heritage. Now, nearly 60 years after his death, that persona should be freely available to those who seek to appropriate it as part of their own expression, even in tasteless ads."
GM had said that it believed that the Leo Burnett agency that worked on the advertisement had purchased a legitimate license to the image from Getty Images. The automaker declined to comment on the resolution of the lawsuit.
- Why Do We Love Einstein?
Today is Einstein's birthday and as I put the finishing touches on the manuscript, Einstein's Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion, I am thinking about the question in the last chapter -- why do we love Einstein?...
- "mistaken Identity And Mirror Images"...quirky Stories
Albert Einstein accepted a “special” visiting professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in February 1920. Although his appointment should have been a mere formality, it took until October of that year before Einstein could occupy...
- 80,000 Einstein Documents Now Online
"Original Einstein manuscripts posted online"byDaniel EstrinMarch 19th, 2012Associated PressAlbert Einstein's complete archives — from personal correspondence with half a dozen lovers to notebooks scribbled with his groundbreaking scientific research...
- "another Einstein?" Poll
Will there ever be an iconic figure like Einstein again? Yes...6 No...1 Perhaps...3 Hard to predict, but I doubt it. Einstein was historically in the right place at the right time. Einstein was part of the Classical Age of Physics, explained a far reaching...
- "a Brain Is A Terrible Thing To Lose"--al Gore
I might as well address this issue for it inevitably comes up in discussions about Einstein and that is the story of Einstein's brain. Einstein died on April 18th, 1955 at the age of seventy six in Princeton, New Jersey from heart failure. An autopsy...