King Paper Ownership Disputed ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - A gallery owner and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Estate have agreed to put the auction of the King papers on hold until the ownership issue is resolved. One expert says the answer depends on what kind of ownership you're talking about.

Tony Askew is one of King and Spalding's most experienced patent and trademark lawyers. He says there are two different types of ownership in this case.

ASKEW: You have ownership of the work, in this case, the papers. And separately you have ownership of the copyright. The complaint that seems to be expressed seems to confuse those two subjects.

In other words, Askew believes the elderly anonymous woman owns the work, and the King Estate owns the copyright. He says the woman can sell the papers. What she can't do is charge people to see the papers or do anything that infringes on the Estate's copyright.

However, Isaac Newton Ferris argues that the woman doesn't actually own the papers.
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