▲蘇狀師談娛樂法(名氣權；藝人之知名度於其死後之保護)

She Belongs to the Public: Court Rules that Marilyn Monroe Estate has no Rights of Publicity

她屬於公眾；法院判決瑪麗蓮夢露之遺產管理人無權擁有其知名度

Background: For the past 50 years—since Monroe’s death in August 1962—Monroe’s Estate (and its successor, Monroe, LLC) has been asserting that it inherited Monroe’s right of publicity, claiming to own Monroe’s images, voice, likeness and biographical information—rights that were worth $27 million in 2011.

背景：自從瑪麗蓮夢露1962死亡至今已50年，其遺產管理人持續主張就瑪麗蓮夢露的知名度仍擁有權利，包括圖像、聲音、樣貌和傳記資料，這些在2011年總價值2千7百萬美元。

New York or California? Rights of publicity vary from state to state: though most states recognize the right during a person’s lifetime, only a few states extend those protections after death. Though in California individuals have a posthumous publicity right, which can be bequeathed, in New York, the right of publicity is extinguished at death. Monroe died at a house she owned in Brentwood, California, though she also maintained her prior residence in New York City. Thus, the issue before the court was clear: if Monroe was a California resident at her death, the Monroe Estate would have inherited control of her name and likeness; if she was a New York resident, those rights would have expired when Monroe died.

該遺產管理人主張其擁有瑪麗蓮夢露之名氣權，準據法究竟係依紐約州法抑或是加州法？ 美國各州對知名度之保護，採取不同的保護強度，雖然大多數的州承認人於其生存其間可主張知名度，僅有少不分的州承認死後名人權。在加州承認死後名人權，有可被繼承人所繼承，但在紐約知名度在人死後即消滅。瑪麗蓮夢露於其加州Brentwood自宅內死亡，雖然其住所設在紐約。 所以，於訴訟時爭點非常明確，假如瑪麗蓮夢露死時，是加州居民，其遺產管理人可繼承並得支配其姓名與樣貌，假使她是紐約居民，上開權利於其死亡時即消滅。（待續）