California Celebrities Rights Act
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The Celebrities Rights Act or Celebrity Rights Act was passed in California in 1985 and it extended the personality rights for a celebrity to 70 years after their death. Previously, the 1979 Lugosi v. Universal Pictures decision by the California Supreme Court held that Bela Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. The court rules that any rights of publicity, and rights to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death.
Formally called Civil Code section 990 grants statutory post-mortem rights which prohibit the unsanctioned use of the "name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness on or in products, merchandise or goods" of any person. Similar laws have been enacted by 12 other states in the United States. [1]. The largest celebrity rights licensing agency is The Roger Richman Agency, which is owned by Corbis.
[edit] Cases
- 1998 Princess Diana's sued the Franklin Mint for selling products bearing her likeness. The lawsuit filed May 18, 1998 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles said the Franklin Mint "failed to obtain consent to use Princess Diana's identity and trademark ... and embarked on a campaign to profit from Princess Diana's death."
