Glenn Miller vanished over the English Channel; his widow licensed his name for $1, and his children lost it in court

Major Glenn Miller's plane disappeared over the English Channel on 15 December 1944. No wreckage or body was found. He was pronounced dead a year later. His will did not mention his name, trademarks or publicity rights, so they passed to his widow, Helen, in the residue. In 1956 his friend and lawyer David Mackay Sr. formed Glenn Miller Productions to run a touring Glenn Miller Orchestra. Helen and Mackay each owned half. She signed a one-paragraph license giving the company use of the name and likeness for $1; the board then agreed to pay her $13,000 a year. Helen died on 2 June 1966. Mackay, as trustee, sold her shares to the company for $115,000. Their adopted children, Steven and Jonnie Miller, sued Mackay in three states in the late 1970s, saying he cheated them out of half the company. In a 1980 settlement they ratified the 1956 license. In 2003 they sued again, saying the company had no right to sublicense the name. In 2004 Judge A. Howard Matz agreed a licensee cannot sublicense without permission, but ruled the claims came too late. The Ninth Circuit affirmed on 19 July 2006. The company keeps the orchestra name^†.