Individuals have a right to control the commercial use of their identity, recognised by statute in many states and by common law in others.
Protected attributes. Name, likeness, voice, signature, and in some states any indicia of identity — a distinctive phrase, a recognisable style, an impersonation.
Commercial use. Advertising, merchandise and endorsement. Newsworthy and expressive uses are generally protected, and the boundary between an expressive work and a commercial exploitation is the recurring dispute.
Transformative use and other First Amendment defences apply where the work adds significant creative elements.
Descendibility. Post-mortem rights exist in many states for a term of years, with the applicable law generally that of the individual’s domicile at death.
Consent. Model and talent releases should specify the media, the territory, the duration, whether the use may be modified, and whether it extends to derivative campaigns. Perpetual and worldwide grants cost more and are worth obtaining for material campaigns.
Employees and customers. Photographs of staff and customers used in marketing require releases, and continued use after an employee departs is a common claim.
Generated likenesses. Synthetic voices and images replicating a real person have prompted specific statutes in several states.