What Is the "Right of Publicity"?

Quick answer: Right of publicity protects a person's name, image, and likeness from unauthorized commercial use. It's a state-by-state law originally built around cases like athlete endorsements, not AI-generated likeness or voice cloning, which is why it struggles with today's use cases.

When copyright and biometric privacy law both fall short, right of publicity is usually the next legal tool people reach for. It's also, by design, not built for what's happening now.

What right of publicity actually covers

It's the closest thing available when copyright doesn't apply, for instance, when an AI mimics someone's style or aesthetic without copying protected creative work directly. Historically, this law was used to stop things like a company running an ad that implied a celebrity's endorsement without permission, or a product using someone's name and image on packaging without a licensing deal.

Why it wasn't designed for this moment

Right of publicity law is state-by-state, not federal, and was originally built with athlete endorsements in mind, a much narrower use case than AI-generated likeness, voice cloning, or synthetic media. It was written for a world where reproducing someone's likeness required real effort, a photoshoot, a film crew, an actor, not a world where a convincing synthetic version could be generated in minutes from public photos alone.

Where the law is starting to catch up

A small number of states, including California and Tennessee, have begun updating their right of publicity frameworks specifically with AI in mind. Tennessee's version, the Elvis Act, is one of the most notable examples of this early wave of AI-informed legislation. These updates typically extend the definition of protected likeness to explicitly include a person's voice and digital replica, not just their name and image, which is a meaningful expansion from the law's original scope.

The core limitation

Even where updated, right of publicity law struggles with a basic question: when an AI produces something that "feels" like a specific person without directly using their name, image, or voice, has anything actually been legally taken? Most current frameworks don't have a clean answer. This is precisely the gray area where an AI-generated performance can be unmistakably evocative of a real person's style without technically triggering any existing legal protection.

FAQ

What does right of publicity actually protect? Historically, a person's name, image, and likeness from unauthorized commercial use, originally built around cases like celebrity endorsements.

Is right of publicity law the same in every state? No. It varies significantly state by state, and only a handful of states have begun updating it specifically for AI.

Can right of publicity law stop an AI from mimicking my style without copying my exact image or voice? This remains a significant gray area. Most current right of publicity frameworks weren't designed to address style or aesthetic mimicry specifically.