New York Right of Publicity Legislation Considered

The state of New York is poised to enact legislation that would create a retroactive descendible right of publicity – legal recognition of a decedent’s rights to have their heirs control (and profit) from use of the deceased’s image or likeness. The proposed New York legislation, which would be broader than similar legislation in the small number (14) of other states that have celebrity rights laws, would cause grave harm to the magazine industry by potentially preventing publishers from using images of deceased celebrities in their publications, including photographs from their own archives.