Great man — Harry Belafonte, the calypso singer, sued the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr, the African American civil rights activist. Mr Belafonte had in his possession important documents of Dr King’s, which he attempted to auction some years ago to raise money for a charity. He was prevented from doing so by Dr King’s family and estate, which claimed he had acquired the documents wrongfully.

Dr King’s estate had also previously sued his secretary, Maude Ballou, claiming documents in her possession, were rightfully theirs, and previous to that, unsuccessfully sued Boston university for personal papers from Dr King’s graduate school days. The family clearly feels they own both the material as well as intellectual property that has grown from the life and work of Martin Luther King, including his famous speech ‘I Have a Dream’, which the family also sued the daily US Today for printing.