RE: Assignment of the Right of Publicity

Thank you for responses to my question. The McCarthy treatis was very helpful. Illnois does statutorily recognize the right of publicity. My client owned various incorporated entities (family business) which used his name, image and signature for promotional purposes. He never received royalites during his lifetime and died without assigning his right to publicity. Ilinois statute states that the right descends to certain heirs, wife, child or grandchild. If someone dies without a spouse, child or grandchild the right is extinguished. The heirs would like to assign the right to one corporation and license to the others. There is a potential that they could license his publicity to outside companies for various products. All of the entities continue to use his name image and signature for promotional purposes. Will a simple assignment by the heirs suffice? Any drafting advise would be appreciated.

attached mail follows:

There is an excellent treatise on the Right of Publicity by McCarthy (the same McCarthy of trademark treatise fame) that I believe also contains forms. As each state has its own peculiarities, I would review any statutory or caselaw materials in the state(s) where the decedent was domiciled or died for additional pointers, as there are significant quirks from state to state.

I was involved in a contested case regarding the assignment of the descendible right of publicity under California law. There, the court found that a valid assignment had been made to the heirs through the residuary clause in the decedent's will, despite the absence of any reference to the "right of publicity" -- the thinking was that the right existed, and was transferred to somebody, so if it wasn't passed in the specific bequests, it must have passed in the residuary bequest.

That said, I think the better approach is specify assignment of the right of publicity to reduce avoid any challenge as to whom the right was assigned. And if you're talking about further assignment to a third party by one of the heirs (I wasn't clear on your question), I would think this would be a fairly straightforward matter -- devising "all right, title and interest" in XX's right of publicity under all applicable statutory or common law. But again, get the treatise and read the statute and caselaw.

Greg Ikonen

-----Original Message-----
From: Carol Watkiss [mailto:CWatkiss[_at_]rathjewoodward.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 6:23 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Assignment of the Right of Publicity

Thank you for your response. A new statute allows the Right of Publicity to pass to heirs at death. I have been unsuccessful in locating a form for this type of assignment. Any form or drafting tips would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Carol A. Watkiss

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