A 7295: Expands the right of publicity to seventy years following the death of a deceased personality; makes the provisions of such section granting a right of publicity applicable to all deceased persons until the end of such 70 year period.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7295 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY March 25, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SIMONE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to expanding the right of publicity to seventy years after the death of the deceased person- ality; and to amend chapter 304 of the laws of 2020 amending the civil rights law relating to establishing the right of publicity and to providing a private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of a sexually explicit depiction of an individual, in relation to the application thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section 50-f of the civil 2 rights law, as added by chapter 304 of the laws of 2020, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 a. Any person who uses a deceased personality's name, voice, signa- 5 ture, photograph, [or] likeness, or a substantially similar imitation of 6 one or more of those attributes, in any manner, on or in products, 7 merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or 8 soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods, or services, 9 without prior consent from the person or persons specified in subdivi- 10 sion four of this section, shall be liable for any damages sustained by 11 the person or persons injured as a result thereof. 12 § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 50-f of the civil rights law, as added 13 by chapter 304 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows: 14 8. An action shall not be brought under this section by reason of any 15 use of a deceased personality's name, voice, signature, photograph, or 16 likeness occurring after the expiration of [forty] seventy years after 17 the death of the deceased personality. 18 § 3. Section 3 of chapter 304 of the laws of 2020, amending the civil 19 rights law relating to establishing the right of publicity and to 20 providing a private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publi- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10953-02-5 
 A. 7295 2 1 cation of a sexually explicit depiction of an individual, is amended to 2 read as follows: 3 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 4 it shall have become a law[, and]; provided that the provisions of 5 section 50-f of the civil rights law as amended by section one of this 6 act shall apply to all living individuals and to any deceased individ- 7 uals who died [on or after] prior to and after such date. 8 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.