How CMG Worldwide Leverages AI to Protect Celebrity Estates from Einstein to MLK

About CMG

CMG Worldwide is a premier law firm and marketing agency based out of Beverly Hills with a 45-year legacy of protecting the world's most iconic estates. As the pioneer in celebrity representation, CMG has built an unrivaled reputation managing the rights and legacies of legendary figures including Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou, and John Wayne. Trusted by entertainment's biggest names, CMG has set industry standards for how iconic intellectual property is protected, monetized, and preserved for future generations.

Challenge

Complex IP Management in an Expanding Digital Landscape

CMG Worldwide faces unique challenges as stewards of iconic intellectual property. Given their clientele’s global reach, they needed a more scalable approach to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape:

• High-value opportunity identification: With thousands of potential uses across platforms, identifying which represented the highest revenue potential required significant expertise

  Time-intensive research: Team members often invested 30+ minutes per infringing company researching contact information before beginning potential licensing conversations

  Coverage optimization: Manual processes meant there was a limit to the volume of infringements they could action and total revenue potential. 

  Strategic resource allocation: The team needed to divide attention across multiple high-profile estates while maintaining the personalized service these iconic legacies deserved

  Platform proliferation: New digital marketplaces and platforms continuously emerged, making comprehensive monitoring increasingly challenging

For the Albert Einstein estate in particular, the recent surge in AI interest created an unprecedented volume of licensing inquiries and unauthorized uses, representing a significant untapped revenue opportunity if given the right tools and approach.

"With our prior capacity, we could only get to the highest priority infringements for our biggest clients. We needed a way to prioritize protecting their legacy while also identifying legitimate licensing opportunities."

- Joey Roesler, CMG Worldwide

Solution

AI-Enhanced Legal Intelligence for Estate Protection

Podqi empowered CMG's legal team with specialized tools designed for the unique challenges of right of publicity law:

Comprehensive IP Monitoring

• Legal intelligence platform customized for right of publicity and intellectual property detection

• Systematic monitoring across 180+ digital platforms, prioritizing potentially valuable licensing opportunities

• Smart filtering to exclude existing legitimate licensees

• Regular, systematic review cycles for each represented estate

Enhanced Legal Workflow

• Automated evidence collection with comprehensive screenshot documentation

• Contact intelligence gathering that eliminated the most time-consuming aspect of case preparation

• Streamlined export functionality for efficient case file organization

• Opportunity value assessment to focus legal resources on highest-potential licensing arrangements

Implementation Timeline

• Legal team onboarded within 48 hours

• Uncovered a five-figure potential licensing opportunity for a client within the first week

• Full adoption across multiple practice areas within two weeks

Podqi's platform enabled CMG's legal team to apply their deep expertise in right of publicity law more effectively, protecting more estates and identifying more valuable licensing opportunities without expanding their team.

Results

Transforming Estate Protection from Art to Science

The partnership between CMG and Podqi delivered significant improvements to both the protective and revenue-generating aspects of their practice:

Estate Protection Metrics

• Expanded monitoring coverage 100% increase in brand protection coverage, from top 40% to 80% of infringements

• Reduced legal research time for contact discovery by 45%

Legal Workflow Enhancements

• Reduced evidence collection time from hours to minutes with automated documentation

• Decreased case preparation time by 50% through streamlined research workflows

• Enabled handling of 20x more potential licensing opportunities with the same legal team

• Freed specialized attorneys to focus on complex negotiations and relationship management rather than administrative tasks

Strategic Client Benefits

• Transformed estate protection from reactive to proactive brand stewardship

• Created new revenue streams for estates from previously unaddressed licensing opportunities

• Built comprehensive usage histories to strengthen future licensing negotiations

• Enabled data-driven prioritization based on both brand protection and revenue potential

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, CMG plans to expand Podqi's capabilities across their entire client roster, ensuring comprehensive protection and opportunity identification for their full portfolio of iconic personalities and estates.

"Podqi allows us to honor our commitment to protecting the legacy of iconic figures while also generating revenue that supports their estates and foundations. It's transformed how we practice right of publicity law."

- Joey Roesler, CMG Worldwide