Judge Says Parts Of Washington’s Publicity Rights Law Are Unconstitutional
15th February 2011
Further adventures from the fantasyland of ‘intellectual property’.
Well, here’s a pleasant surprise. We’ve been talking a lot about the rise of publicity rights as a relatively “new” form of intellectual property, driven by a collection of confusing state laws that create a poorly defined “right” for someone to block the use of their likeness (and, in some cases, their appearance, voice, mannerisms, gestures and more…). This has given rise to a new group of what can best be called “publicity rights trolls,” looking for ways to exploit these laws for cash. There are some cases making their way through the courts that question whether or not publicity rights violate the First Amendment, but in a surprise ruling up in Washington, a federal judge has ruled that the state’s publicity rights law is unconstitutional.