My (limited)understanding, after a brief encounter with CMG a
few years ago over an out of copyright photographic image of Twain that
we provided to an ad agency, is that CMG uses a somewhat obscure
principle called "rights of publicity" to legitimize some of their
claims. As I understand it this is a point of law that is recognized in
some states and not others which would serve to further complicate the
issue were it to be tested in court.
Mark Woodhouse
Elmira College