50th Anniversary Star Trek Stamps from US Postal Service in 2016

From http://www.linns.com/en/news/stamp-...als-new-stamp-subjects--designs-for-2016.html

I can hardly wait to buy these!

 

If the choices are the final designs, this stamp series just tripped & fell on its face over its own massive oversight.

 

These descriptions sounds like they couldn't get -- or didn't want to bother with -- getting likeness rights for any of the actors.

 

The problem is that legally US Postage Stamps can not feature the images of any living persons. So there is no way Captain Kirk can appear on a US stamp. The probably decided not to have any likeness if they can not have a central character. This might also been planned before Nimoy died. There might be a waiting period or long approval process for these to get made.

 

Oh, you're right. I was totally forgetting about that rule. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

Note that the USPS will be issuing a Shirley Temple stamp in 2016 - she just passed away this year, and the PS had probably wanted to issue one for years, if not decades...

I am sure that there was very little haggling with Paramount/CBS and the postal people regarding rights - the 50th will be a prime occasion for exploitation.

 

According to the news story:

 

That seems to be the case, I read an article earlier today that stated the design company was working on the stamps when they heard the news of Nimoy's passing.

 

The designs and execution are typically lame, as with anything put out by the gov't - witness the America the Beautiful and State quarters.

 

Hm, if it were a stamp honoring William Shatner, I could see how this applies, but Captain James T. Kirk is a fictional character, like Mickey Mouse or Superman.

 

But note that when the Post Office put out a book of BATMAN stamps earlier this year, they didn't use images of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, etc.

They used art by Bob Kane, Dick Sprang, Neal Adams, and Frank Miller . . ..

 

This just in. Paramount to slap USPS with a "cease and desist" order. Paramount, speaking through its' attorney, said: "The Postal Service is clearly trying to profit from our intellectual property by issuing these stamps as 'collectors items', since everybody knows no one actually mails anything anymore."

 

Plus the actors get residuals when their likeness is used like on action figures and other marketed materials. And which Captain Kirk likeness should they use, I.e. Shatner or Pine? Hasn't there been lawsuits where actor likenesses were used on action figures and the actor sued because no contract or permission had been made?

 

In regard to the "no living persons" rule, I would point out that the Postal Service did issue stamps honoring the Apollo 11 lunar landing depicting two astronauts on the lunar surface.

Yeah, they had helmets on but they couldn't have been anybody but Armstrong and Aldrin.

 

Perhaps using artwork from the animated series then? Not photos of Shatner and Nimoy, but Filmation's artistic interpretation of Kirk and Spock. I would buy those stamps.

 

What about the Harry Potter stamps? They all, or mostly all, featured stills from the films so I don't think that was the issue.

I like them. They made me smile

 

But those stamps don't explicitly show the astronauts as Armstrong and Aldrin, that may be who they're supposed to be, but if their faces aren't shown, they could technically pass.

 

Y'all are arguing but you know you're gonna buy a set anyway, right?

C'mon admit it!

 

The first Trek stamp issued in 1999 was the result of a 13-year, fan-driven campaign. The P.0. kept insisting that Trek was a commercial enterprise and, therefore, ineligible because of its commercial implications. It was a case of selective application of their own guidelines since the P.0. had already issued a number of stamps with commercial implications: Laurel and Hardy and their promotion of the film The Land Beyond Time in conjunction with a series of dinosaur stamps.

 

I'll get it; these things are cool.