Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.
Right of publicity
Use of a famous person's name or likeness, without consent, to sell a product is usually misappropriation. But even if the use is not for commercial purposes -- for example, public relations campaigns or other purposes -- the use may still violate the celebrity's right of publicity.
A federal court of appeals threw out an almost $20 million jury award to the family of Nancy Benoit who claimed Hustler Magazine violated their daughter's right of publicity by publishing nude photographs of her after she was killed by her husband, the professional wrestler Chris Benoit in a double murder-suicide.