Authors Guild and AAP Try to Kill ‘Dead Celebrities’ Bill

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 6/20/2007 1:22:00 PM

The Authors Guild and AAP have publicly denounced a bill on the floor of the New York State Legislature that could allow heirs the legal right to block the use of photographs and other likenesses of deceased public figures. The Guild, which sent out an alert to its members today warning them about the legislation (known as the "dead celebrities" bill), said that, if the bill passes, it would create a "posthumous ‘right of publicity’" that could, potentially, threaten the work done by historians, biographers and even novelists.

The bill, which affects the use of pictures, names, signatures and portraits of anyone who died after January 1, 1938, has, according to the Guild’s "sources in Albany" been introduced in two forms. The Assembly version, which the Guild says could be voted on very soon and "would most likely pass," and the Senate one, which the Guild thinks is "on a slower track."

Because the two versions of the bill do not exclude literary works from their scope, the Guild has urged its members to oppose the legislation by contacting their representatives.

The AAP has also come out against the bill, sending a letter to New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, from president and CEO, Pat Schroeder. Echoing the Authors Guild, Schroeder points out in her letter that one "serious problem" with the legislation is that it does not "include an adequate exemption for expressive works."

Schroeder goes on to write: "Because publicity rights inevitably clash with publishing activities that are clearly protected under New York law and the First Amendment, legislation in this area, if undertaken at all, must be approached with extreme caution"

AAP director of communications Judy Platt, who said said "the bill, as written, is a disaster," added that it is already being supported by some high profile celebrities like Al Pacino and Yoko Ono.

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