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Valuing a Celebrity's Right of Publicity

By Weston Anson, Lacy J. Lodes, and David Noble

Unlike patent, trademark and copyright law, rights of publicity are governed by a patchwork of state statutes and common-law decisions, rather than by a single federal statute. And unlike trade secret law, rights of publicity are not subject to a uniform state law adopted in the vast majority of states. But as with valuing other intellectual property assets, right of publicity (ROP) valuations need to consider the unique characteristics of the subject asset and the context of the valuation.

Typically, ROP valuations are needed for one of three reasons: when negotiating a transaction (i.e., endorsements, licensing, etc.); calculating damages for ROP violations; or valuing celebrity estates and trusts. Each ROP asset is unique and each of these contexts varies, posing some unique challenges for reasonable analysis of ROP assets.

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