Comments on: Steve Jobs Doll Legal In Most States, Not Indiana

By: Dinah

Dinah — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:56:26 +0000

Think of this from a more humane perspective. You’re Steve’s kids or wife. How would you feel every time you walked into a store and saw the doll for sale? And how would you feel if your husband’s image was being used to make millions of dollars? Because those are the real issues at play here and why these laws exist.

By: Retrospeak

Retrospeak — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:02:23 +0000

This is wonderful news for action figure collectors. The scarcer the better! Now if I can only get a cease-and-desist action against my new play “Jobs: The Formative Years of A Control Freak”, my royalty stream will be ensured for years to come.

By: RightofPublicity

RightofPublicity — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:12:19 +0000

It is correct that privacy rights die with the individual, but publicity rights are generally considered property rights. As a result, the presumption is that most states will recognize those rights after the death of the individual. Common law often co-exists with statutory authority, in part demonstrating that the statutes are not strictly an effort to allow the rights to survive the death of the personality, but instead are an effort to bring clarity to the extent of recognition that will be afforded. Thus, the Right of Publicity generally survives the personality except in those states that explicitly reject a post-mortem Right of Publicity, which is not very many states at all. By the way, Right of Publicity is not just for celebrities or famous persons–the general theory is that every person possesses a Right of Publicity. Also for the record, CMG did indeed have a role in the passage of the Indiana statute in 1994, but they do not represent Babe Ruth any longer–in fact not since last decade. With respect to Marilyn Monroe, as noted in the article, after a ruling against the rights of Marilyn Monroe, a California bill was signed into law in 2008 affirming that the California statute indeed always was supposed to apply to those who predeceased passage of the statute–again, in part on the basis that the common law was there all along. Just trying to add some perspective to the discussion here, I hope it helps, all meant in good spirit! Also posted a blog on this very topic in case anyone is interested since this comment board isn’t the best place to write in detail: http://rightofpublicity.com/plans-for-steve-jobs-action-figure-biggest-right-of-publicity-story-of-2012

By: RedGreenBlue

RedGreenBlue — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:05:41 +0000

Under the common law, typically the rights of publicity and privacy die with the celebrity. That’s why laws have been passed in some many states–in order for the rights to survive the death of the celebrity. The Indiana law is restrictive as it is due to the efforts of CMG Worldwide, which is based there and has made its business in licensing rights of deceased individuals, such as Babe Ruth. See http://www.cmgworldwide.com/corporate/history.htm

By: Russ

Russ — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:10:03 +0000

California statute 3344.1: (a)(1) “Any person who uses a deceased personality’s name, voice,
signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products,
merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or
soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods, or services,
without prior consent from the person or persons specified in
subdivision (c), shall be liable for any damages…”

The main question is who now owns the rights, as suggested above. From the statute:

“The rights recognized under this section are property rights, freely
transferable or descendible, in whole or in part, by contract or by
means of any trust or any other testamentary instrument..”

Jobs assigned that property right to either 1) his wife/family/relatives; 2) Apple; 3) no one; 4) someone else.

Most likely: His wife is now trustee of his estate, and would own the property right to protect his image — and could sue for the damages in the statute.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:54:14 +0000

Its true. A dozen or more states have explicit publicity statutues around deceased celebs, and others (e.g. New Jersey) recognize them under common law. NY is the real glaring exception, not the rule. If the subject died in a state that protects the right (as CA does), then other states that also protect those rights will also protect the out-of-state celebrity. The Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe cases mentioned were examples of celebs who were deemed NY residents and therefore not afforded protection in WA and CA, which otherwise would have provided protection

By: contentnext

contentnext — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:24:24 +0000

Actually I’m pretty sure that’s not even remotely true.

By: RightOfPublicity

RightOfPublicity — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:11:06 +0000

Thanks Jeff. This is an area of concentration for me, so I enjoy kicking around these kinds of issues and I’m not trying to nitpick your article, per se. I did indeed plug my informational website on the Right of Publicity because that is a free online resource for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of this complicated legal doctrine. But to be clear, this Steve Jobs action figure would be actionable in most states throughout the U.S. This is because the Right of Publicity can be recognized in a variety of forms, and does not rely strictly on a statutory Right of Publicity to be in place. In addition to statutory recognition, there also is common law Right of Publicity recognition, unfair competition, and other areas of the law that would all be potentially relevant to this situation. I think a better title for this article would be “Steve Jobs Doll Illegal in Most States, but perhaps not in New York.”

By: Jeff Roberts

Jeff Roberts — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:54:59 +0000

With respect, I disagree. Your comment seems intended more as a plug for your consultancy business than as an impartial legal analysis. The article has links to two scholarly writers who confirm that most states do not extend publicity rights to dead people.

By: RightofPublicity

RightofPublicity — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:25:16 +0000

The legal analysis in this article is misleading and off-base. The Steve Jobs action figure is a violation of his Right of Publicity in just about ever state in the US, as well as in other countries as well. Appreciate the plug for Indiana’s Right of Publicity law, which is very strong, but many other states have statutory Right of Publicity protection for deceased individuals. Even those states without a statute are likely to recognize the right of publicity. For more information on this fascinating legal doctrine, visit http://www.RightOfPublicity.com