California's Publicity Law

Earlier on this blog, I discussed the proposed New York law regarding the publicity rights to a decedent's voice, picture, name, etc. which would greatly expand the interests of the heirs and beneficiaries of a celebrity's estate to control and benefit from the deceased's fame.

I have also discussed California legislation on the same topic with regard to the fight over Marilyn Monroe's estate.  In that posting, I indicated that it was uncertain whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  would sign the bill.  Well -- he did on October 10, 2007!

Here is an except from the Legislative Counsel's Digest to SB 771:

Existing law establishes a cause of action for damages on behalf of specified injured parties for the unauthorized use of a deceased personality's name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness for commercial purposes within 70 years of the personality's death, except as specified. Existing law provides that the rights recognized under these provisions are property rights, freely transferable, in whole or in part, by contract or by means of trust or testamentary documents, whether the transfer occurs before the death of the deceased personality, by the deceased personality or his or her transferees, or, after the death of the deceased personality, by the person in whom the rights vest under these provisions or the transferees of that person.

This bill would provide, instead, that the above property rights are freely transferable or descendible by contract or by means of any trust or any other testamentary instrument executed before or after January 1, 1985. It would provide that those rights shall be deemed to have existed at the time of death of any person who died prior to January 1, 1985, and shall vest in the persons entitled to these property rights under the testamentary instrument of the deceased personality effective as of the date of his or her death, except as specified. The bill would provide that, in the absence of an express provision in a testamentary instrument to transfer these rights, a provision in the instrument that provides for the disposition of the residue of the deceased personality's assets shall be effective to transfer the rights.

For additional discussion focusing on the impact of this new law on the Monroe litigation, see Jim Zarroli, Law Decides Who Owns a Dead Star's Image , NPR.org, Oct. 11, 2007.  Special thanks to Melanie Casner (J.D. Candidate, Texas Tech University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.