Who actually owns a face?

As it turns out, it’s not always the person to whom the mug is attached that owns the rights to commercialize it. Photographers are free to reserve all copyrights to their work, while others may choose less restrictive licensing, such as Creative Commons, or simply release their work into the public domain.

Search engines and stock photography sites are typically good at communicating the terms for an image’s use, but a mix-up mistagging a photograph of The Office writer and star B.J. Novak as being in the public domain has led to amusing packaging featuring his visage.