The Right of Publicity Maturation of an Independent Right Protecting Associative Value
21 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2010
Date Written: 1995
Abstract
Dispute and confusion marked the emergence and development of the “right of publicity,” a right concerned with the use of attributes of a generally identifiable person to enhance the commercial value of an enterprise. The Second Circuit decision in Haelan Laboratories v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. has played a pivotal role in shaping the understanding of the right of publicity. That case established that a celebrity has a right to damages and other relief for the unauthorized commercial appropriation of the celebrity’s persona.
Since that case, the law has matured in the development of a flexible common-law approach to the commercialization of identity and the “associative value” inherent in celebrity. This article tracks those developments.
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