Marketing Through Celebrities Update: Publicity Rights, Product Placement and Endorsement

For decades, the names, likenesses, images and voices of celebrities have been used for marketing purposes. Publicity rights protect celebrities by providing the right to control the commercial use of one's identity. Here, explore publicity rights and review various applicable cases from the inception of the doctrine.

Join Amy B. Goldsmith, Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice of Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP in New York City, for this exciting update. She will address the only Supreme Court case to address the issue, Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., as well as newer cases from around the nation. She also addresses the differences between the laws in New York versus California and contractual protection for publicity rights, including endorsement contracts, product placement, and licensing.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand publicity rights

2. Identify important questions to ask the celebrity before the deal is made

3. Distinguish between privacy and publicity

4. Recognize violations such as false advertising and false association

5. Comprehend statutory right of publicity, common law right of publicity, and the Lanham Act

6. Address recent case decisions