Marilyn Monroe Could Not Give Away Her Publicity Right

The following is from Tom Perrotta, Lensman’s Estate Wins Battle Over Images of Marilyn Monroe, NY L.J., May 4, 2007.

A federal judge in Manhattan has sided with the family of late photographer Sam Shaw in a dispute over the rights to images of Marilyn Monroe.

Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon rejected a claim that the estate of Shaw had violated Monroe’s right of publicity by selling photos without the consent of Marilyn Monroe LLC, a company founded by the Hollywood icon’s heirs.

The judge, writing in Shaw Family Archives Ltd. v. CMG Worldwide, Inc., 05-CV-3939, said the laws of New York, California and Indiana, which were at the heart of the dispute, did not grant a retroactive right of publicity to Monroe after her death.

“Ms. Monroe could not devise by will a property right she did not own at the time of her death in 1962,” the judge wrote.