If someone uses a person’s face in an ad, drops their name into a promotion, or implies an endorsement that never happened, a lot of people instinctively call it “identity theft.” In legal terms, the issue is often more specific: the right of publicity.
This area of law is about commercial use of identity. It can affect celebrities, creators, athletes, influencers, founders, executives, and sometimes private individuals whose identity carries marketing value in a particular context. It also overlaps with false endorsement, unfair competition, privacy law, platform enforcement, and — increasingly — AI-generated voices, avatars, and synthetic media.
In this post you’ll learn what the right of publicity is, what counts as a person’s “name, image, and likeness,” when use may be unlawful, what exceptions often apply, how state law changes the analysis, and when an attorney may help evaluate the facts. If you want a broader overview of the doctrine first, this plain-English explainer on publicity-rights basics and commercial misuse adds useful context.
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The right of publicity generally refers to a person’s right to control certain commercial uses of their identity — often their name, photograph, likeness, voice, signature, or other recognizable aspects of persona. In the United States, it is mainly governed by state law, not one uniform federal statute. The Legal Information Institute explains that the doctrine is largely protected through state common law or statutes, and that federal trademark law can also become relevant in some false-endorsement situations via the Lanham Act (Cornell Wex).
At a basic level, the claim often comes up when a business uses someone’s identity:
That sounds simple, but real disputes are rarely simple. A person’s identity may be used in expressive works, commentary, parody, news reporting, biographies, documentaries, sports coverage, or political speech. Those contexts can trigger important First Amendment and statutory exceptions.
The phrase “name, image, and likeness” — often shortened to NIL — is widely used, especially in sports and creator-economy conversations. But right-of-publicity claims can extend beyond just a literal photograph.
Depending on the state, protected identity features may include: