Want to use the Mahatma's pictures? Pay royalty to a German!

 

A canny German named Peter Ruhe has allegedly made a career of collecting Gandhi memorabilia, and has already collected over 12,000 original pictures of the Mahatma and other memorabilia and is intent on auctioning them to the highest bidders. 


Now, he has gone one step further. He is claiming royalty for use of the Mahatma's likeness in Narayan Desai's book, My Life is My Message. He has sold a few items in auction for Rs.8 crores (bought by Vijay Mallya), and also recently offered some photographs to Sabarmati Ashram for Rs.5.5 crores. He claims to be only an agent for the copyright holders in making this royalty claim.

Wonder what the Mahatma would say at international laws which can allow such a situation.