I appreciate your responses. Like I said before it's less a question of being able to put the image on a box of breakfast cereal, than it is being able to state "I own that image."
Just recently I have gotten interested in original photographs and negatives. The question arose from my musical background and education. In the music industry it was common courtesy (though not required) to provide the owner of a song or catalog with the master tapes. In such terms master recordings have become the defacto currency in music rights and ownership.
i.e. Ever hear those stories of musicians storming a record company and demanding the masters from their vaults.
It just got me thinking about original negatives and the owner of said negatives claim to ownership of the image. It is a strange gray area I'm not familiar with to stake a claim on "image" that territorially doesn't infringe upon "likeness."
For example if you own the original negative of a photograph that depicts Mel Ott in mid swing. I find it hard to believe you could plaster the image on the side of a box that features your new brand of "Mel Ott batting Tape" without seeking permission from the Ott Estate.
However, if you own the original negative of a photograph that depicts Mel Ott in mid swing could you prevent some random Joe from mass producing the photograph in glossy 8x10's and selling them on ebay?
Like both of you alluded to, it is a gray area that would probably require some legal fees.
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