Prof. Jennifer E. Rothman continues to warn that “the right of publicity may pose a significant legal roadblock for developers of AI.”
At Rothman’s Roadmap to the Right of Publicity, Jennifer E. Rothman, Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Law, discusses a recent U.S. Senate hearing on artificial intelligence during which a federal right to publicity took center stage.
Rothman is nationally recognized for her scholarship in the field of intellectual property law. She is the leading expert on the right of publicity and is frequently sought after to consult on legislation, high-profile litigation, and the development of creative projects. Rothman holds a secondary appointment at Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication.
Rothman’s Roadmap to the Right of Publicity is an online resource that provides a comprehensive analysis of state right of publicity laws and commentary on recent cases and legislation.
From Rothman’s Roadmap:
On July 12th, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held its second hearing about artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property, this one was to focus expressly on “copyright” law. Although copyright was mentioned many times during the almost two-hour session and written testimony considered whether the use of unlicensed training data was copyright infringement, a surprising amount of the hearing focused not on copyright law, but instead on the right of publicity.
Both senators and witnesses spent significant time advocating for new legislation—a federal right of publicity or a federal anti-impersonation right (what one witness dubbed the FAIR Act). Discussion of such a federal law occupied more of the hearing than predicted and significantly more time than was spent parsing either existing copyright law or suggesting changes to copyright law… .
Read the full piece at Rothman’s Roadmap to the Right of Publicity.