Well, the originals like Jay has are very nice little paintings. The cards are Broders as far as I am concerned. That said, I collect some unlicensed cards, especially from the 1970s. They can be quite interesting additions to a collection. Not sure how these Helmar thingies will fare. I've bid on a few of the Joe Louis ones but don't want to spend any real money on what I view as a novelty item.
The right of publicity varies from state to state in terms of protection of deceased persons. Most places have a cap on it. Cali, for example, caps the heirs' control at 70 years post-death and I think that is one of the longest, so odds are the Helmar pics of guys who've been dead for more than that time are immune to lawsuits on publicity issues in nearly all states. I think Tennessee has a perpetual law (Elvis).
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