The right of publicity is a legal framework that gives individuals control over the commercial use of their identity, including name, image, voice, and likeness, with rules that vary by U.S. state and broader protections or equivalents in other regions.

Notable developments include the ELVIS Act from 2024 in Tennessee extending liability to voice and likeness simulations, California's AB 2602 and AB 1836 from 2024-2025 expanding protections to digital replicas, and New York's 2025 synthetic performer disclosure law requiring labeling of AI-generated performers.

Advertising practice relies on contracts and licenses such as model releases, endorsement agreements, and stock image releases, which are limited by media, territory, product category, and duration and require renewed consent when terms lapse.

Bottom line: as AI makes copying identities easier, the right of publicity shapes licensing, content creation, compliance, and enforcement across advertising, media, and tech platforms.

Regulatory and industry actions affecting marketing include mandatory disclosures for AI-generated likenesses, platform liability debates (including a Frankfurt court ruling on Meta and DSA exemptions), and moves by Google, Meta, and YouTube to restrict impersonation, disallow certain ads, or expand likeness-detection capabilities.

Globally, Europe lacks a unified right of publicity, relying instead on image rights, personality rights, and data protection rules; GDPR considerations apply to AI-generated images and voices, with Germany and France enforcing personality rights and recent AI cloning case law evolving.

The federal NO FAKES Act seeks a federal licensable right in voice and likeness but has faced legislative hurdles as of late 2026; meanwhile Denmark and others are advancing deepfake-related legislation.

In the United States, California and New York anchor publicity rights through core statutes—California Civil Code section 3344 and New York Civil Rights Law 50-51—with post-mortem rights and varying durations across states.