Right-of-Publicity Amendments Extend Protections, But Marilyn Monroe LLC Suffers New Setback

The California-based Sinatra family had been busy licensing Frank Sinatra product to mark 10 years since the legendary crooner passed away. California had recently enacted a major change in its statutory right of publicity, too ' in response to litigation that involved the residuary rights of Frank Sinatra's late friend Marilyn Monroe. After federal district courts in California and New York ruled that Monroe had no ability to include a post-mortem right of publicity in her will when she died in 1962, the California legislature amended its descendible publicity right to apply to personalities who died up to 70 years before the California statute originally took effect on Jan. 1, 1985. But the amendment to Calif. Civ. Code Sec. 3344.1 hasn't helped the Monroe legacy. Both California and New York federal district courts have now decided that, though Monroe often worked in California, her domicile was New York, which has no descendible publicity right.