Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law, was interviewed by Fashionista about image and personality rights in the fashion industry.
The most complicated thing of all about publicity or personality rights is that there is no federal law, and there is absolutely no international harmonization. It’s not just country by country, but also state by state within the U.S.
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Individuals’ image rights, rights of publicity or rights of personality come with the person as a package. They are naturally yours as an individual while you are alive. That’s pretty much universal. In fact, in New York, there is not only a cause of action for an individual whose image is used without authorization to sue, but it’s also a criminal act to use someone’s image without getting prior written consent.