Historic Foundation and Current Legal Status

AuthorWeston Anson
Pages1-2
1
PART I
Historic Foundation and
Current Legal Status
In these first six chapters of the book, we really focus on two different topics. In the
first instance, we look at the historic and foundational origins of rights of publicity as
well as rights of privacy, digging into the origins, definitions, and early history of these
concepts in the first three chapters. The second half of Part I serves more as a guide
to the federal and state laws currently in place. We summarize them, including claims,
defenses, and differences amongst the various states. We include tables of what we
refer to as the mosaic or patchwork of state laws and common law coverages. Impor-
tantly, Part I also includes case studies from the 1980s onward, which illustrate how
value began to be placed on rights of publicity 30 years ago and has moved upward from
that point.
Chapter 1, Legal and Commercial Foundations for Rights of Publicity, includes a
brief legal history of rights of publicity, a summary of right of publicity deal making, and
a review of the origins of rights of publicity. We also cover celebrity culture—not just
today, but going back well into history—which has driven right of publicity law both
formal and informal. Also in chapter 1, we touch on the multiple types of celebrity right
of publicity usage. This is an important topic that we come back to often throughout
the book. And finally we conclude with two case studies illustrating that value is both
relative and context driven.
Chapter 2, Origins, Definitions, and Early Right of Publicity Cases, helps us under-
stand the origins and definitions of rights of privacy and rights of publicity. Distinguish-
ing between the right of privacy and the right of publicity is important for all readers
to understand. For this reason we have included in chapter 2 a short history from the
1890s up through today of the origins of right of publicity and right of privacy, and
a summary of protections under today’s law. Chapter 2 concludes with the two most
important and pioneering cases in the history of right of publicity law and four case
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