Are Celebrities’ Postmortem Publicity Rights Really Protected?

The following entry is based on Kurt Wenzel, Licensing the Dead, San Francisco Chron., Sept. 9, 2007, at F2.

The California Senate is considering a bill which will defend postmortem right of publicity owned by the heirs of celebrities. It prohibits illegal commercial use of likeness, voices, and signatures of deceased icons. If passed, this bill could open floodgates of litigation because it may retroactively affect publicity rights held in public domain. While this legislation gives the rights of publicity to the celebrities’ families, it does not necessarily protect the images of the dead icons.

Several large companies like CMG and Cobris compete for obtaining licensing rights to dead celebrities and then sell them to marketers for advertisement. The heirs are just as willing to exploit their deceased relatives’ fame. The celebrities’ images may be utilized in the promotion of products of which they never heard and in ways of which they could have disapproved. Recent examples of using dead persons’ fame for commercial purposes include the Rosa Parks and Chevrolet commercial and Audrey Hepburn dancing for the Gap.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.