Name, Image & Likeness
Ali v. Playgirl: A Drawing Can Be a Likeness
A federal court enjoined a nude drawing recognizable as Muhammad Ali, holding New York's statute reaches any portrait, not just photographs.
July 11, 2026
Right of Publicity
Name, image, likeness, and voice. The state-law right of publicity at the frontier of generative artificial intelligence.
Browse Right of Publicity by Subtopic
Name, Image & LikenessVoice & Sound-AlikesAI, Deepfakes & Digital ReplicasPost-Mortem RightsFirst Amendment & Expressive UseCommercial MisappropriationAthletes & College NILInfluencers & Social MediaState-by-State VariationLicensing & Estates
Practical Right of Publicity Guides
- Intellectual Property in California: A 2026 Guide for Founders & Creators
- Name, Image & Likeness: The Right of Publicity Guide
Articles
Licensing & Estates
Astaire v. Best Film & Video: The Film Exemption That Reshaped California's Post-Mortem Statute
The Ninth Circuit held Fred Astaire clips in a dance-lesson video fell within California section 990's film exemption, a ruling that triggered the Astaire Act.
July 11, 2026
Commercial Misappropriation
Downing v. Abercrombie & Fitch: Owning the Photo Is Not Owning the People In It
The Ninth Circuit revived surfers' misappropriation claims over a catalog photo, holding a likeness is not preempted by copyright in the image.
July 11, 2026
Influencers & Social Media
Fraley v. Facebook: When Ordinary Users' Endorsements Acquire Commercial Value
The N.D. Cal. refused to dismiss section 3344 claims over Facebook's Sponsored Stories, holding ordinary users plausibly alleged their endorsements had value.
July 11, 2026
Licensing & Estates
Groucho Marx Productions v. Day and Night: How Domicile at Death Decides a Publicity Estate
The Second Circuit held the law of a celebrity's domicile at death governs descendibility, and under then-current California law the Marx estates had no claim.
July 11, 2026
First Amendment & Expressive Use
Hilton v. Hallmark Cards: When a Catchphrase Defeats a First Amendment Defense
The Ninth Circuit refused to hold a Paris Hilton birthday card transformative as a matter of law, letting her 'That's hot' publicity claim proceed.
July 11, 2026
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
In re Clearview AI: An Equity Stake to Settle Faceprint Scraping
A federal court approved a novel settlement giving the class a 23% equity stake in Clearview AI over its scraping of billions of face images. The Seventh Circuit vacated it in July 2026.
July 11, 2026
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Laws v. Sony: When Copyright Preempts a Voice Claim
The Ninth Circuit held that a right-of-publicity claim over a licensed vocal sample was preempted by the Copyright Act, drawing the line at imitation.
July 11, 2026
State-by-State Variation
Matthews v. Wozencraft: Why Texas Misappropriation Does Not Protect a Life Story
The Fifth Circuit held Texas misappropriation law protects name and likeness but not a person's life story, defeating an ex-officer's claim over the novel Rush.
July 11, 2026
Name, Image & Likeness
Motschenbacher v. R.J. Reynolds: Identifiability Beyond the Face
The Ninth Circuit held a race car's distinctive markings could identify its driver, extending misappropriation past name and face to any evocative indicia.
July 11, 2026
Commercial Misappropriation
Newcombe v. Coors: A Pitcher's Windup and the 'Readily Identifiable' Standard
The Ninth Circuit revived Don Newcombe's misappropriation claim, holding a beer-ad drawing of a distinctive windup could be readily identifiable as him.
July 11, 2026
Athletes & College NIL
Ohio v. NCAA: The Antitrust Injunction That Freed College Transfers
A federal court enjoined the NCAA's transfer sit-out rule as a Sherman Act restraint, then a consent decree permanently ended it in 2024.
July 11, 2026
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Oliveira v. Frito-Lay: A Signature Performance Is Not a Trademark
The Second Circuit held Astrud Gilberto had no Lanham Act mark in her famous 'Girl from Ipanema' recording, channeling the grievance to publicity law.
July 11, 2026
Athletes & College NIL
Pavia v. NCAA: Lost NIL Earnings as the Antitrust Injury in College Eligibility
A federal court enjoined the NCAA's JUCO eligibility rule for Diego Pavia, treating lost NIL income as the competitive injury under the Sherman Act.
July 11, 2026
Post-Mortem Rights
Elvis Presley Foundation v. Crowell: Publicity Survives Death in Tennessee
The Tennessee Court of Appeals held the right of publicity is descendible common-law property, making Tennessee the epicenter of post-mortem rights.
July 11, 2026
Influencers & Social Media
Ratermann v. Pierre Fabre: A New York Publicity Claim, an Exceeded License, and Section 230
The S.D.N.Y. held New York's privacy statute is not intellectual property, so Section 230 shielded retailers, while a model's claim against the brand survived.
July 11, 2026
First Amendment & Expressive Use
Ross v. Roberts: A Rapper's Borrowed Name as Transformative Expression
The California Court of Appeal held Rick Ross's use of a drug kingpin's name and persona was transformative, First Amendment-protected art.
July 11, 2026
Post-Mortem Rights
Shaw Family Archives v. CMG Worldwide: You Cannot Will a Right That Did Not Exist
The court held Marilyn Monroe could not devise a post-mortem publicity right through her will because no such right existed at her 1962 death.
July 11, 2026
State-by-State Variation
Stephano v. News Group: New York's Statute-Only Regime and the Newsworthiness Line
New York's high court held a model's photo in a consumer fashion column was newsworthy, not trade use, and that sections 50 and 51 are the exclusive remedy.
July 11, 2026
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
Walters v. OpenAI: The First Merits Ruling on AI Hallucination Defamation
A Georgia court granted OpenAI summary judgment over a ChatGPT hallucination, holding no reasonable reader would take the fabricated output as fact.
July 11, 2026
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Hugga-Hugga, Brrr, and the Limits of Voice: Tin Pan Apple v. Miller Brewing
When a beer ad hired Fat Boys imitators, a New York court let the look-alike, copyright, and Lanham Act claims proceed but held that copying a distinctive voice did not, by itself, violate the state privacy statute as it then read. The legislature added voice in 1995.
June 23, 2026
State-by-State Variation
Flour of the Family: How Roberson v. Rochester Folding Box Denied Privacy and Forced a Statute
New York's highest court refused to recognize a common-law right of privacy after a young woman's photo was used on flour ads, prompting the legislature to enact one within a year.
June 21, 2026
State-by-State Variation
The First Right to Be Let Alone: Pavesich v. New England Life and the Birth of the Privacy Tort
In 1905 Georgia's high court became the first in the nation to recognize a common-law right of privacy, after an insurer used an artist's photo in a fabricated advertisement.
June 19, 2026
Post-Mortem Rights
Einstein's Image, Fifty Years On: Hebrew University v. General Motors and the Limits of Post-Mortem Publicity
A federal court held that New Jersey's common-law post-mortem right of publicity lasts no more than 50 years, so Albert Einstein's rights had expired before GM ran its 2009 ad.
June 17, 2026
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
Lehrman v. Lovo: Why the Right of Publicity, Not Copyright, Governs AI Voice Cloning
A federal court let voice actors' right-of-publicity and contract claims against an AI voice-cloning company proceed while dismissing their copyright theories. The decision maps the legal terrain for performers facing synthetic replicas of their voices.
June 17, 2026
Name, Image & Likeness
No Cut of the Broadcast: Marshall v. ESPN and the Limits of an Athlete's Right of Publicity
The Sixth Circuit held that college athletes have no right of publicity in the televised broadcasts of their own games, calling the claim a legal fantasy under Tennessee law.
June 15, 2026
Licensing & Estates
Diana's Domicile Decides: Cairns v. Franklin Mint and the Limits of Post-Mortem Publicity
The Ninth Circuit held that British law, not California's, governed Princess Diana's post-mortem publicity claim, and because Britain recognizes no such right, the estate's claim failed.
June 13, 2026
Influencers & Social Media
A Tattoo on the Wrong Back: Brophy v. Almanzar and Cardi B's Mixtape Cover
A jury rejected a $5 million right-of-publicity and false-light suit over Cardi B's 2016 mixtape cover, which photoshopped a man's distinctive back tattoo onto a model.
June 11, 2026
First Amendment & Expressive Use
A Hockey Enforcer, a Comic-Book Villain: Doe v. TCI Cablevision and the Predominant Purpose Test
Missouri's high court let NHL enforcer Tony Twist sue Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, adopting a 'predominant purpose' test to balance the right of publicity against free speech.
June 9, 2026
First Amendment & Expressive Use
When a Painting Beats a Trademark: ETW Corp. v. Jireh Publishing and Tiger Woods's Image
The Sixth Circuit held that an artist's print of Tiger Woods's 1997 Masters win was transformative First Amendment speech, defeating both Lanham Act and right-of-publicity claims.
June 7, 2026
Commercial Misappropriation
The Birth of a Right: Haelan Laboratories v. Topps and the Invention of the Right of Publicity
Judge Jerome Frank coined the phrase 'right of publicity' in a 1953 fight over baseball-card photos, recognizing a transferable property interest in one's own image.
June 5, 2026
Athletes & College NIL
When Highlight Films Trump Publicity Rights: Dryer v. NFL and Copyright Preemption
The Eighth Circuit held that the Copyright Act preempts retired players' right-of-publicity claims over NFL Films productions, treating the historical highlight reels as expressive speech rather than ads.
June 3, 2026
Athletes & College NIL
Price-Fixing in the Recruiting Market: Tennessee v. NCAA and the Injunction Against the NIL Ban
A federal court blocked the NCAA from enforcing its ban on name-image-likeness deals during recruiting, finding the rule a likely antitrust violation that suppressed athletes' compensation.
June 1, 2026
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
Resurrecting a Comedian by Algorithm: Main Sequence v. Dudesy and the George Carlin AI Special
George Carlin's estate sued the makers of an AI-generated comedy special impersonating him, and the case ended in a consent judgment and permanent injunction barring the fake from ever resurfacing.
May 30, 2026
Name, Image & Likeness
Hart v. Electronic Arts: The Transformative-Use Test and an Athlete's Likeness in a Video Game
The Third Circuit held that EA's photorealistic use of a college quarterback's avatar in NCAA Football was not transformative enough to defeat his right of publicity, adopting the transformative-use test as the circuit's framework for likeness-in-media disputes.
January 27, 2026
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Midler v. Ford Motor Co.: When a Sound-Alike Steals an Identity
The Ninth Circuit held that deliberately imitating a widely known singer's distinctive voice to sell a product is a California tort, even though a voice itself is not copyrightable.
January 24, 2026
Post-Mortem Rights
Are You Experienced, After Death? The Ninth Circuit, Jimi Hendrix, and the Post-Mortem Right of Publicity
Experience Hendrix v. HendrixLicensing.com upheld Washington's post-mortem publicity statute as applied to a New York-domiciled rock legend, exposing how a fractured state-law patchwork now governs the dead.
January 21, 2026
First Amendment & Expressive Use
No One Owns History: De Havilland v. FX and the First Amendment Defense to Right-of-Publicity Claims
How California's appellate court used the First Amendment to dismiss Olivia de Havilland's publicity and false-light suit over the 'Feud' docudrama.
January 18, 2026
Commercial Misappropriation
When a Robot Becomes You: White v. Samsung and the Reach of Identity
The Ninth Circuit held that a game-show robot could appropriate Vanna White's identity, untethering the right of publicity from name and likeness.
January 15, 2026
Athletes & College NIL
House v. NCAA: The Settlement That Made College Athletes Paid Licensors
Judge Wilken's final approval of the $2.8 billion House settlement converts decades of amateurism doctrine into a licensed, revenue-shared market for athlete name, image, and likeness.
January 12, 2026
Influencers & Social Media
A Release Is Not a License to All: Electra v. 59 Murray Enterprises and the Models Whose Images Sold the Nightclub
The Second Circuit revived right-of-publicity claims by professional models whose photographs were lifted to advertise strip clubs online, holding that a release signed for one purpose is not consent against the world.
January 9, 2026
State-by-State Variation
Identity Is Not a Work of Authorship: Toney v. L'Oréal and the Limits of Copyright Preemption
The Seventh Circuit's Toney decision holds that the Copyright Act does not preempt an Illinois Right of Publicity Act claim, anchoring the rule that a persona is neither fixed nor authored.
January 6, 2026
Licensing & Estates
Milton Greene v. Marilyn Monroe LLC: How a Star's Domicile Decided Who Owns Her Image
The Ninth Circuit held that Marilyn Monroe's estate, having sworn for forty years that she died a New Yorker to dodge California estate tax, was judicially estopped from claiming California domicile to capture a posthumous right of publicity worth millions.
January 3, 2026
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Booth v. Colgate-Palmolive: New York's Refusal to Protect a Voice Alone
A Southern District of New York court held that imitating an actress's famous voice (without using her name or likeness) was not unfair competition, defamation, or a Lanham Act violation.
November 17, 2025
Influencers & Social Media
The Intellectual Property Door in Section 230: Hepp v. Facebook
The Third Circuit held that Section 230 does not immunize platforms from state right-of-publicity claims, splitting from the Ninth Circuit on the law's intellectual-property carve-out.
November 3, 2025
Licensing & Estates
MLK Center v. American Heritage Products: A Descendible Publicity Right Without a Lifetime License
Georgia's Supreme Court held that Dr. King's right of publicity survived his death and was inheritable even though he never licensed his identity for profit, uncoupling descendibility from lifetime commercial exploitation and reshaping what a non-commercial figure's estate can protect.
October 20, 2025
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
California's Digital-Replica Statutes: AB 2602 and AB 1836 Split the Living from the Dead
California's two 2024 digital-replica laws take different routes. One voids consent-by-contract for living performers; the other extends the post-mortem right of publicity to AI replicas of the deceased. Together they reset the rules for Hollywood.
October 13, 2025
State-by-State Variation
Licensing the Image, Not the Athlete: Maloney v. T3Media and Copyright Preemption of the Right of Publicity
The Ninth Circuit held that former NCAA players' publicity claims over an online photo-licensing service were preempted by copyright, because the suit attacked control of the photographs themselves rather than use of the players' identities on merchandise or in ads.
October 13, 2025
Commercial Misappropriation
Jordan v. Jewel Food Stores: When a Congratulatory Ad Is Commercial Speech
The Seventh Circuit held that a supermarket's tribute ad to Michael Jordan was commercial speech, stripping it of full First Amendment protection and reviving his publicity claims.
October 1, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
No Doubt v. Activision: Literal Avatars Are Not Transformative Use
A California appellate court held that Band Hero's exact avatars of No Doubt were literal reproductions, not transformative use, so the band's right-of-publicity claim could proceed.
September 29, 2025
Commercial Misappropriation
Lew Alcindor in an Oldsmobile Ad: Abdul-Jabbar and the Persistence of a Former Name
The Ninth Circuit held that a celebrity's discarded birth name remains part of his identity, reviving claims over an Oldsmobile commercial.
September 22, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
Stories Taken from Life: Sarver v. Chartier and the First Amendment Shield for Films
A soldier who said The Hurt Locker was built on his life lost to the First Amendment, which protects storytellers who transform real people into art on matters of public concern.
September 22, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
C.B.C. v. MLB Advanced Media: Fantasy Baseball and Free Speech
The Eighth Circuit held that a fantasy-sports operator's use of player names and statistics was protected by the First Amendment, overriding the players' right of publicity.
September 15, 2025
Athletes & College NIL
Johnson v. NCAA: Can a College Athlete Be an Employee?
The Third Circuit refused to treat amateurism as a bar to wage claims, adopting an economic-realities test that could make some college athletes employees entitled to pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
September 15, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
Winter v. DC Comics: Transformative Use Shields the Autumn Brothers
California's Supreme Court held that comic-book villains loosely based on musicians Johnny and Edgar Winter were transformative expression protected by the First Amendment.
September 8, 2025
Name, Image & Likeness
Davis v. Electronic Arts: Retired NFL Players, the Incidental-Use Defense, and the Limits of First Amendment Cover
The Ninth Circuit held that EA's unlicensed use of thousands of former NFL players on Madden's historic teams was central, not incidental, and that Keller foreclosed EA's transformative-use, public-interest, and Rogers defenses.
August 25, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
Cardtoons v. MLBPA: Parody Trading Cards Beat the Right of Publicity
The Tenth Circuit held that Cardtoons' parody baseball cards were protected First Amendment commentary that outweighed the players' union's Oklahoma right of publicity.
August 18, 2025
Influencers & Social Media
A Borrowed Life Is Not a Borrowed Face: Gravano v. Take-Two
New York's highest court held that even a video-game character built from a reality star's biography is not actionable when the avatar is not recognizable as her.
August 18, 2025
Post-Mortem Rights
Valentino's Ghost and the First Amendment: Guglielmi's Concurrence That Outlived the Holding
The California Supreme Court's 1979 companion to Lugosi denied a descendible right of publicity, but Chief Justice Bird's concurrence on fictionalized portrayals of the dead became enduringly influential.
August 13, 2025
State-by-State Variation
A Face Is Not a Photograph: KNB Enterprises v. Matthews and Why § 3344 Survives Copyright Preemption
A California appellate court held that models' statutory right-of-publicity claims under Civil Code § 3344 are not preempted by federal copyright, because a human likeness is not copyrightable even when captured in a copyrighted image.
July 21, 2025
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Sinatra v. Goodyear: When a Music License Defeats a Voice Claim
The Ninth Circuit held that Nancy Sinatra could not stop a tire company from using sound-alike singers on a song it had lawfully licensed, because federal copyright policy preempted her state passing-off claim.
July 20, 2025
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
The ELVIS Act: Tennessee Makes 'Voice' a Protected Property Right Against AI Cloning
Tennessee's 2024 ELVIS Act was the first U.S. law written for AI voice cloning: it made voice an express attribute of Tennessee's right of publicity and reached the tools that clone it. It is a statute, not a court ruling, and a template other states are now copying.
July 7, 2025
Athletes & College NIL
NCAA v. Alston: A Unanimous Court Removes Amateurism's Shield
The Supreme Court unanimously held that NCAA limits on education-related benefits violate the Sherman Act, and Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence signaled that the broader amateurism model was living on borrowed time.
June 22, 2025
Licensing & Estates
Estate of Presley v. Russen: Where an Estate's Publicity License Stops and a Tribute Show Begins
A New Jersey court held that Elvis Presley's right of publicity descended to his estate and barred impersonator merchandise and confusing marketing, but declined to shut down the live 'Big El Show' itself because the estate never proved an identifiable economic loss from the performance.
June 16, 2025
Commercial Misappropriation
Robots at the Cheers Bar: Wendt, Animatronics, and the Persona of a Role
The Ninth Circuit let two Cheers actors take their right-of-publicity claim to trial over airport-bar robots evoking their characters.
June 16, 2025
Post-Mortem Rights
Fame Falls to the Public: Memphis Development v. Factors and Elvis's Post-Mortem Persona
Why the Sixth Circuit held in 1980 that Elvis Presley's right of publicity died with him and passed into the public domain, an Erie prediction Tennessee would later reject.
May 19, 2025
Name, Image & Likeness
Brown v. Electronic Arts: Why the Rogers Test Sank Jim Brown's Likeness Claim the Same Day Keller Won
The Ninth Circuit held that a Hall of Famer's Lanham Act false-endorsement claim over his avatar in Madden NFL was governed by the Rogers artistic-relevance test (and lost) even as a right-of-publicity claim on similar facts survived.
May 13, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
Raw Material or the Whole Point: Comedy III and the Birth of the Transformative-Use Test
California's Supreme Court borrowed copyright's transformation idea to decide when celebrity art is protected speech, and held that literal Three Stooges drawings are not.
May 7, 2025
State-by-State Variation
When the Magazine Wins: Hoffman v. Capital Cities/ABC and the First Amendment Limit on the Right of Publicity
The Ninth Circuit reversed a $3 million judgment for Dustin Hoffman, holding that a digitally altered photograph in an editorial fashion feature was protected speech, not a commercial appropriation of his likeness.
March 17, 2025
Voice & Sound-Alikes
Lahr v. Adell Chemical Co.: The Sound-Alike Case That Predated Midler by a Generation
Long before the right of publicity protected a voice, the First Circuit held that imitating a famous comedian's distinctive vocal style to sell a product could state a claim for unfair competition.
March 11, 2025
AI, Deepfakes & Digital Replicas
Young v. NeoCortext: When a Face-Swap App Meets California's Right of Publicity
The Ninth Circuit let a Big Brother contestant's putative class action over the Reface deepfake app proceed, rejecting both a copyright-preemption defense and a transformative-use shield at the pleading stage.
March 10, 2025
Name, Image & Likeness
Keller v. Electronic Arts: The Ninth Circuit Adopts the Transformative-Use Test for College Athletes' Likenesses
On materially identical facts to Hart, the Ninth Circuit held that EA's photorealistic depiction of college football players in NCAA Football flunked California's transformative-use test and enjoyed no First Amendment shield.
February 18, 2025
Athletes & College NIL
O'Bannon v. NCAA: The Likeness Case That Cracked Amateurism
The Ninth Circuit held that NCAA rules barring athletes from sharing in the commercial use of their own names, images, and likenesses violated antitrust law, but capped the remedy at the cost of attendance.
February 17, 2025
Influencers & Social Media
When the Avatar Is You: Lohan v. Take-Two and the Recognizability Line
New York's highest court held that a video-game avatar can be a 'portrait' under the right of publicity, but only if the public can actually recognize the plaintiff in it.
February 11, 2025
First Amendment & Expressive Use
The Whole Act: Zacchini and the Supreme Court's Only Right-of-Publicity Ruling
When a TV station aired a human cannonball's entire fifteen-second performance, the Supreme Court held the First Amendment does not immunize broadcasting a performer's complete act.
February 11, 2025
Commercial Misappropriation
"Here's Johnny" on a Portable Toilet: Carson and the Catchphrase as Identity
The Sixth Circuit held that a celebrity's signature catchphrase can be appropriated even when his name and likeness are never used.
February 10, 2025
Licensing & Estates
Factors Etc. v. Pro Arts: When an Exclusive Elvis License Outlived the Right It Licensed
The Second Circuit first upheld, then withdrew, an exclusive licensee's power to enforce Elvis Presley's posthumous identity: a whiplash that exposed how fragile a celebrity-estate license is when the underlying right depends on an unsettled state law.
February 10, 2025
Post-Mortem Rights
Dracula Dies With the Actor: Lugosi v. Universal and the Birth of the Descendibility Debate
How the California Supreme Court held in 1979 that the right of publicity is personal, dies with its owner, and is not descendible to heirs, prompting the statute that overturned it.
February 10, 2025