Marilyn Monroe Medallion Locked Up
PARIS - A dispute over the rights to Marilyn Monroe's image is keeping a French mint from distributing a gold medallion depicting her nude figure.
La Monnaie de Paris, established in the time of the Emperor Charlemagne, is a branch of the Finance Ministry. It took the medallion off the market because of claims by Roger Richman, a California licensing agent.
La Monnaie de Paris has made medallions for 400 years and first produced the Marilyn medals in bronze in 1985, said Patrice Cahart, director of the mint.
``It was part of a series of medallions featuring about a dozen cinema stars struck to commemorate the Cannes Film Festival,'' he said in an interview. ``It is something done quite frequently with figures from the arts, theater, et cetera.''
In 1987, the mint produced the Marilyn medal in gold because of an order from a Japanese dealer, Cahart said.
The coins have her face and name on one side and, on the other, her nude figure in the reclining pose shown on countless posters and calendars in the 28 years since her suicide.
Richman claimed he controlled the rights to the commercialization of her image and La Monnaie de Paris halted sales of the medallions in 1988, Cahart said.
Early in August, Richman told The Associated Press in Los Angeles: ``We are now in the process of settlement negotiations.''
He said no lawsuit had been filed, but he would not rule out the possibility.