Right of publicity litigation sits where intellectual property, the First Amendment, and commercial law collide. A claim can involve a face on a product, a soundalike voice in an ad, or a celebrity's persona used to imply an endorsement that never happened. We litigate these disputes nationwide, on both sides, and we know how state-by-state differences in publicity and likeness law shape every move.
Enforcing Publicity Rights
When someone exploits your name, image, or likeness without permission, we build the case to stop it. We represent individuals and estates pursuing misappropriation and false endorsement claims, document the unauthorized commercial use, and pursue injunctions and damages. We move quickly to preserve evidence and lock down the scope of the infringement before it spreads across products, channels, or platforms.
Defending Likeness Claims
Not every use of a person's identity is unlawful, and aggressive plaintiffs often forget that. We defend companies, publishers, and creators facing publicity and false endorsement claims, asserting First Amendment protection, newsworthiness, transformative use, and consent where the facts support them. We test whether the plaintiff can prove commercial use at all, and we push back on theories that would turn ordinary expression into a payout.
Emergency And Injunctive Relief
Speed often decides these disputes. We pursue temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions to halt ongoing exploitation before a campaign runs its course, and we defend clients against overreaching injunction requests that would shut down legitimate speech or sales. We frame the irreparable-harm and likelihood-of-success arguments that courts weigh, and prepare for the expedited hearings these motions invite.
Proving And Contesting Damages
Right of publicity damages turn on the commercial value of an identity, and the numbers are frequently contested. We work with valuation and licensing experts to quantify what unauthorized use is actually worth and to recover profits attributable to the misappropriation. On defense, we scrutinize inflated celebrity damage models, challenge the licensing comparables behind them, and hold plaintiffs to proof rather than reputation.