The King family wants to sue people who are using Dr. King's image in conjunction with the recent election. Here's the story.

The fact that a lot of money is possibly at stake is irrelevant. If J.K. Rowling wrote a best seller that had a quote from an obscure author, would he have a right to sue for a piece of Ms. Rowling's royalty action just because she cleaned up financially, thanks only in part to her copyright monopoly? The monopoly formerly known as intellectual property is all about getting a piece of someone else's action by using the State, an institution rightly termed by Mr. Libertarian, Murray N. Rothbard, as "the biggest mass murderer, armed robber, enslaver, and parasite in all of human history." He couldn't have called it the biggest monopolist in history, because it's the only monopolist in history.

Tip of the iceberg. Here is a Google search.

TechDirt has picked up on this under-reported "iceberg" also.

MLK Jr. Estate Threatening To Sue Vendors For Selling Products With Obama And King

Mike Masnick writes: "The family of Martin Luther King Jr. has unfortunately done plenty to tarnish the great man's legacy over the last few decades, specifically in being overly aggressive claiming "ownership" of anything having to do with King, and demanding money from various entities that show King's speeches."