The Right of Publicity and Trademark Law

Daniel J. Gervais, Vanderbilt Law School, and Martin L. Holmes, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein L.L.P., have published Fame, Property, and Identity: The Scope and Purpose of the Right Of Publicity in volume 25 of Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal.

This Article examines the overlaps between the right of publicity and rights granted by trademark law and other deception-based restrictions on the use of names and symbols. It shows that the right of publicity creates a more expansive right rooted in a variegated normative soil with elements of privacy, personhood, and property. The Article suggests a proper scope for the right of publicity that protects free speech. The issue of descendibility is also discussed.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.