More like a hunk of liability in Presley publicity rights case
against Beretta.
Ben Franklin, certainly. Abe Lincoln, sure. But the King? Not so
fast, gunslinger.
Recently, the estate of Elvis Presley accused Italian gunmaker
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta SpA of using the name and
likeness of the legendary rock-and-roller and gun enthusiast to
sell a new line of Beretta shotguns. The lawsuit is based primarily
on the estate's claim that Beretta violated Elvis' post
mortem publicity rights.
Filed in a Tennessee court, the case raises again — and
not from the dead! — the concept of an individual's
rights of publicity. And it demonstrates to commercial enterprises
yet another area of potential liability when using even an
ersatz likeness of a famous, even deceased individual.
