A person's identity has commercial value, and the law lets that person decide who gets to use it to sell things. That right now reaches well beyond a face in an advertisement. It covers names, signatures, voices, distinctive personas, and, increasingly, AI-generated digital replicas that look or sound like a real person. Our Right of Publicity service handles both sides of that market. For performers, athletes, creators, and estates, we license identity on good terms and stop people who take it without paying. For brands, agencies, studios, and platforms, we clear uses before they launch and defend claims when they arise. Tennessee, home to our Knoxville office, has one of the country's most developed publicity statutes, including the 2024 ELVIS Act's protections for voice, and we apply these rules for clients nationwide.
What Publicity Rights Protect
There is no federal right of publicity. The right comes from state statutes and common law, and the rules vary in ways that matter: which attributes are protected, whether the right survives death and for how long, and what defenses apply. California Civil Code Section 3344 and its post-mortem counterpart, New York Civil Rights Law Sections 50 and 51, Tennessee's Personal Rights Protection Act, and Indiana's broad statute are the ones that come up most. Federal law adds a parallel claim for false endorsement under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act when a use suggests a person sponsors a product. On the other side sit the First Amendment, newsworthiness exemptions, transformative use, copyright preemption under 17 U.S.C. § 301, and anti-SLAPP statutes in many states.
Licensing, Counseling, Enforcement, Litigation
Right of Publicity Licensing covers endorsement, sponsorship, merchandising, appearance, and NIL agreements, defining the attributes licensed, media, territory, term, approvals, morals clauses, and payment. Right of Publicity Counseling covers clearance of campaigns and products before launch, state-by-state risk analysis, planning for post-mortem rights, and policies for companies that use real people's likenesses, including AI voice and image tools. Right of Publicity Enforcement covers monitoring, demand letters, platform takedown requests, and negotiated settlements when someone uses an identity without permission. Right of Publicity Litigation covers lawsuits on either side, including claims under state statutes and common law, Lanham Act false endorsement claims, requests for preliminary injunctions, and defenses built on the First Amendment, copyright preemption, and anti-SLAPP motions.
Identity Disputes In Court
Publicity claims rarely travel alone. A lookalike in an ad usually brings a Lanham Act false endorsement count, a soundalike voice can raise copyright questions about the underlying recording, and a former partner's continued use of a founder's name often turns into a trademark and contract fight. That overlap is why publicity disputes fit naturally within an IP and business litigation practice. We assess the strongest forum early, since the choice of state law can decide whether a claim exists at all, and we move quickly when an injunction is needed to stop a campaign. On defense, we look first for the motions that end cases early: anti-SLAPP, preemption, and First Amendment defenses for expressive works. Damages arguments focus on the fair market value of the use and any profits attributable to it.
Clearance And Deal Terms
Most publicity problems can be avoided with a clearance step and a well-drafted release or license. Before a campaign launches, we review the creative for identifiable people, including background figures, soundalikes, lookalikes, and synthetic voices, and check the releases on file against the actual use, media, and term. For talent and estates, we negotiate licenses that keep control over approvals and limit the scope to what was paid for, with clear terms on digital replicas and AI training. For brands, we draft agreements that grant the rights the campaign actually needs, including social media usage, paid amplification, and renewal options, and that address morals clauses and termination. For student-athletes and the companies that pay them, we review NIL deals against state NIL laws, school policies, and NCAA rules.
How We Handle A Matter
For counseling and licensing, we start with the creative, the contract, or the deal terms and the markets involved, and return a written risk assessment or a marked-up agreement on an agreed timeline, often within days for a single campaign review. For enforcement, we first document the use, identify who is behind it, and confirm which state's law will apply, then recommend a path: a demand letter, a platform report, a negotiated license after the fact, or a lawsuit. We tell you what each option is likely to cost and what it can realistically recover. When a claim is filed against you, we evaluate early dismissal motions and insurance, since media liability and advertising injury coverage may respond to publicity claims, and we give your team a litigation plan with a budget.
Talent, Estates, And Brands
Our clients include performers, musicians, athletes, social media creators, and the estates that manage the rights of people who have died. On the other side, we advise consumer brands, advertising and marketing agencies, film, television, and game studios, and platforms that host user content or offer AI tools capable of generating someone's likeness or voice. Tennessee's music and entertainment industries make this work a natural fit for a firm with a Knoxville office, and the ELVIS Act has made questions about voice cloning and digital replicas a regular part of it. Sports clients bring NIL and endorsement questions. Fashion and consumer product companies bring merchandising and influencer issues. Multi-state campaigns often require analysis under several state laws at once, and we handle that work for clients nationwide.
Fees For Publicity Work
We price defined work as a flat fee. Reviewing a single campaign for publicity risk, drafting a standard endorsement or appearance agreement, preparing a talent release, or sending an enforcement demand each comes with a fixed price, a stated scope, and a turnaround date. Negotiated licensing deals with significant money or complex approval rights, multi-state enforcement programs, and litigation are scoped and estimated in writing, broken out by phase, so you can make decisions with the cost in view. Call us before a campaign featuring a real person goes live, before you sign or renew an endorsement deal, when a brand or AI tool starts using your likeness or voice without permission, or as soon as a demand letter or complaint arrives.
