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May 04, 2007
Be still my beating heart
A story popped up Yahoo today that made me quiver with excitement. An actual, interesting legal decision involving a dead celebrity, which we all know are the best. Not only that, the story is chock full of the legalese that I love. Check this out:
A New York federal judge has ruled that Marilyn Monroe's right of publicity died when she did in 1962, paving the way for family members of the late photographer Sam Shaw to continue selling and licensing images of the icon, including the photo of her standing above a subway gate.
Ah yes, the old right of publicity. This was originally a very murky issue, especially when it involved dead celebrities. One of the first cases I ever read in law school was one where a judge decided Elvis' right to publicity did not extinguish upon his death. But, then the very next case was one where Al Capone's right to publicity DID extinguish. The point? Similar cases, inconsistent verdicts. But this Marilyn Monroe one doesn't really clarify much:
In her ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon found that at the time of her death in 1962, Monroe did not have any postmortem rights of publicity under the law of any relevant state, including California, where she died, and New York, which was purportedly her legal residence, though that is under dispute.
California began recognizing descendible publicity rights in 1984; New York limits its statutory publicity rights to living persons.
"As a result, any publicity rights she enjoyed during her lifetime were extinguished at her death by operation of law," McMahon wrote. "Nevertheless, (Marilyn Monroe Llc.) argues that her will should be construed as devising postmortem publicity rights that were later conferred on Ms. Monroe by statute. Such a construction is untenable."
And while there are disputes as to whether Monroe's home was in California or New York at the time of her death, "there is absolutely no doubt that she was not domiciled in Indiana," McMahon wrote.
Biggity bam! Because I am too lazy to read the actual opinion, I'll assume that these quotes are the legal "money shot" that tell me all I need to know. The judge is saying that because there was no postmortem right to publicity when Marilyn Monroe died, she doesn't get them later when the law actually grants that right. That's hot.
Then, to put the nail in the coffin, Judge McMahon concludes:
"There is no question ... that at the time of Ms. Monroe's death in 1962, neither New York or California permitted a testator to dispose by will of property she did not own at the time of her death," McMahon concluded. "Any argument that the residuary clause of Ms. Monroe's will could devise a postmortem right of publicity is thus doubly doomed because the law in effect at the time of Ms. Monroe's death did not recognize descendible postmortem publicity rights and did not allow for distribution under a will of property not owned by the testator at the time of her death."
Additionally, McMahon said the Monroe estate's case is "doomed because both the California and Indiana postmortem right of publicity statutes recognize that an individual cannot pass by will a statutory property right that she did not possess at the time of her death."
What a nice and tidy disposal of this question. Thank you, Judge McMahon, for giving me a nice jolt of law with my morning reading!
entry no. 843
Posted by oz115 at May 4, 2007 12:18 PM