Tag: Right of Publicity
House Hearing on AI Takes Seriously the Dangers of Transferring Rights to a Person’s Voice and Likeness
Last Friday, February 2nd, the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet considered what, if anything, to do about AI and the unauthorized use of a person's voice and likeness. The hearing was held in Los Angeles to coincide with Grammys weekend. The hearing focused in part on the recently proposed No AI...
House’s Draft AI Bill Risks Loss of Control over Our Own Voices and Likenesses
***UPDATED TO REFLECT INTRODUCTION TO CONGRESS On January 9, 2024, Representative Maria Salazar circulated a draft of a bill to address voice and likeness rights in the context of AI. The bill is titled “No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas and Unauthorized Duplications Act of 2024,” shorthanded as the “No AI FRAUD Act.” Unfortunately, despite its...
House Releases Draft Legislation Targeting AI
Earlier this week, Representative Maria Salazar circulated a discussion draft of a bill to provide federal "property rights in likeness and voice" to combat concerns over AI-generated replicas of recording artists' and actors' performances. This continues the recent interest in Congress of tackling publicity rights at a federal level in light of ever-improving AI technology....
Supreme Court Likely to Uphold Bar on Registering “Trump Too Small”
Oral arguments were heard today by the Supreme Court in Vidal v. Elster. This trademark case revolves around the constitutionality of the 15 U.S.C. § 1052(c) bar to registering a mark that "consists of or comprises a name, portrait, or signature identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent." Based on the oral...
Comments Submitted to Copyright Office on the Right of Publicity and AI
In response to the Copyright Office's Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments on Artificial Intelligence and Copyright, I submitted comments, particularly focused on the Office's questions pertaining to the right of publicity and the use of a person's likeness or performance in the context of generative AI. These comments sweep more broadly than those...
Draft Digital Replica Bill Risks Living Performers’ Rights over AI-Generated Replacements
The NO FAKES ACT released as a discussion draft last week proposes establishing a new federal digital replica right that would extend 70 years after a person’s death. The one-pager accompanying the draft highlights that the legislation is driven by concerns that “unauthorized recreations from generative artificial intelligence (AI)” will substitute for performances by the...
Submission to Congress in Wake of AI Concerns
In July at a Senate hearing about Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property, several Senators and witnesses floated the possibility of adopting a new federal right of publicity or a more limited "digital impersonation" or digital replica law. In light of these calls and the seriousness with which they are being taken, I prepared a two-pager...
Federal Right of Publicity Takes Center Stage in Senate Hearing on AI
On July 12th, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held its second hearing about artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property, this one was to focus expressly on “copyright” law. Although copyright was mentioned many times during the almost two-hour session and written testimony considered whether the use of unlicensed training data was copyright...
Supreme Court Sides with Jack Daniel’s in Trademark Case
Today's Supreme Court decision in Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products, 599 U.S. __ (2023), will influence not only trademark cases to come, but also false endorsement and right of publicity cases. As you may already know, the case involved a dog toy that mocked the name and trade dress of Jack Daniel's iconic...
Second Circuit Holds that Copyright Law Preempts Publicity Claims Against Sirius XM
On October 4th, in Melendez v. Sirius XM Radio, Inc., the Second Circuit held that copyright law preempted a performer’s right of publicity claims arising out of Sirius XM’s rebroadcasting and promotion of past Howard Stern shows. The plaintiff, John Edward Melendez, also known as Stuttering John, was a regular participant on The Howard Stern...