This casebook deals with a burgeoning field of intellectual property law: the rights of individuals to control the use of their names, likenesses, and personas. This book allows for an in-depth course in Rights of Publicity, with far more extensive coverage than can be achieved within the confines of traditional courses, such as Trademarks or Copyright. In addition, unique among materials in this area, this book includes comparative materials from around the globe, enabling students and teachers to compare the similarities and differences in approaches to this issue among a variety of jurisdictions and courts (including such institutions as the European Court of Human Rights). The book covers a wide range of topics relevant to the subject, including common-law rights, rights under state and federal statutes, inheritability, domain name disputes, choice of law, preemption, remedies, and, of course, extensive coverage of free speech and free expression issues, both in the United States and abroad. The book is also structured to allow great flexibility in coverage--each chapter covers a manageable topic in the subject, and the comparative materials are in stand-alone sections within each chapter. The authors of this casebook have set forth a lengthy rationale for a course in Rights of Publicity in an article--Teaching Rights of Publicity, 52 St. Louis Univ. L.J. 905 (2008).

Reproduction of the original: The Right to Privacy by Samuel D. Warren, Louis D. Brandeis

This is the paperback printing of the casebook published in 2010. This casebook deals with a burgeoning field of intellectual property law: the rights of individuals to control the use of their names, likenesses, and personas. This book allows for an in-depth course in Rights of Publicity, with far more extensive coverage than can be achieved within the confines of traditional courses, such as Trademarks or Copyright. In addition, unique among materials in this area, this book includes comparative materials from around the globe, enabling students and teachers to compare the similarities and differences in approaches to this issue among a variety of jurisdictions and courts (including such institutions as the European Court of Human Rights). The book covers a wide range of topics relevant to the subject, including common-law rights, rights under state and federal statutes, inheritability, domain name disputes, choice of law, preemption, remedies, and, of course, extensive coverage of free speech and free expression issues, both in the United States and abroad. The book is also structured to allow great flexibility in coverage--each chapter covers a manageable topic in the subject, and the comparative materials are in stand-alone sections within each chapter. The authors of this casebook have set forth a lengthy rationale for a course in Rights of Publicity in an article--Teaching Rights of Publicity, 52 St. Louis Univ. L.J. 905 (2008).

Who controls how one’s identity is used by others? This legal question, centuries old, demands greater scrutiny in the Internet age. Jennifer Rothman uses the right of publicity—a little-known law, often wielded by celebrities—to answer that question, not just for the famous but for everyone. In challenging the conventional story of the right of publicity’s emergence, development, and justifications, Rothman shows how it transformed people into intellectual property, leading to a bizarre world in which you can lose ownership of your own identity. This shift and the right’s subsequent expansion undermine individual liberty and privacy, restrict free speech, and suppress artistic works. The Right of Publicity traces the right’s origins back to the emergence of the right of privacy in the late 1800s. The central impetus for the adoption of privacy laws was to protect people from “wrongful publicity.” This privacy-based protection was not limited to anonymous private citizens but applied to famous actors, athletes, and politicians. Beginning in the 1950s, the right transformed into a fully transferable intellectual property right, generating a host of legal disputes, from control of dead celebrities like Prince, to the use of student athletes’ images by the NCAA, to lawsuits by users of Facebook and victims of revenge porn. The right of publicity has lost its way. Rothman proposes returning the right to its origins and in the process reclaiming privacy for a public world.

This looseleaf treatise examines the inherent rights of individuals to control the commercial use of their identities. Trademarks, copyrights, false advertising, defamation, infliction of mental distress, interference with contract, licenses, and other aspects of publicity and privacy are discussed in the work.

A unique resource for lawyers, business and talent managers, and celebrities themselves, this book examines the increasingly important method of valuing rights of publicity and celebrity brands in addition to providing guidance for striking stronger and more lucrative deals. It covers the legal context, the parallels between traditional brands and celebrity brands, and the structuring, pricing, and challenges of deals for all types of celebrities. This book will help those who work with right of publicity to understand today's law and deal making; engage in more and better deals with fewer problems; and learn how to earn greater income from rights of publicity.

In this new book, Mark Wheeler offers the first in-depth analysis of the history, nature and global reach of celebrity politics today. Celebrity politicians and politicized celebrities have had a profound impact upon the practice of politics and the way in which it is now communicated. New forms of political participation have emerged as a result and the political classes have increasingly absorbed the values of celebrity into their own PR strategies. Celebrity activists, endorsers, humanitarians and diplomats also play a part in reconfiguring politics for a more fragmented and image-conscious public arena. In academic circles, celebrity may be viewed as a ‘manufactured product’; one fabricated by media exposure so that celebrity activists are no more than ‘bards of the powerful.’ Mark Wheeler, however, provides a more nuanced critique contending that both celebrity politicians and politicized stars should be defined by their ‘affective capacity’ to operate within the public sphere. This timely book will be a valuable resource for students of media and communication studies and political science as well as general readers keen to understand the nature and reach of contemporary celebrity culture.