That question is at the crux of his widow's lawsuit against Linda McMahon and the WWE.
"In the 11 years since Owen's tragic and avoidable death, I have worked tirelessly to disassociate Owen's name and likeness from anything related to WWE in order to protect our children from any reminder of the circumstances surrounding their father's death, and to avoid any misplaced perception that I endorse WWE," Martha Hart said.
But WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt sees things differently. "Martha Hart does not have some exclusive right to tell the story of her husband,'' McDevitt said. "He was a public figure ... he was part of WWE.''
Central to the lawsuit, according to James Caldwell, assistant editor of PW Torch, is the question of whether WWE needs to seek Martha Hart's permission to use her dead husband's images.
Meanwhile, Irv Muchnick weighs in from the West Coast. He notes that Martha Hart's lawsuit is, at its core, a dispute over "intellectual property -- and nothing gets in the McMahons' kitchen quite like the notion that IP might be for thee, as well as me."