Because Cosby is a Massachusetts resident, his rights cease with death, his attorneys said.
By COLLEEN QUINN
BOSTON — Comedian Bill Cosby and his wife Camille are once again asking state lawmakers to pass legislation that would protect celebrities’ images after they die if they live in Massachusetts.
Melinda Phelps, an attorney for Cosby, told lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday the well-known star wants to make sure celebrities who live in the Bay State have post-mortem protections for their images to prevent them from being commercially exploited.
The Cosbys live in Shelburne Falls in Franklin County, and pushed a similar bill last session.
Under current state law, anyone who wants to use the portrait or picture of a person for use in advertising or “purposes of trade” must have written consent from the person whose likeness is being used. But the law is “silent” about what happens after the celebrity dies, attorneys said.
Bill Hart, another Cosby attorney, said if someone decided to sell “soap on a rope” with Cosby’s face on it while he was alive, he could stop them. “The day after he dies, they could put it into production and start marketing it,” Hart said. Because Cosby is a Massachusetts resident, his rights cease with death, his attorneys said.
Nineteen other states have passed laws to protect celebrities’ images after they die, according to state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat who filed the legislation (S 1630) to give celebrities identity protection for up to 70 years after their death. The legislation would protect all aspects of their image, including their voices, he said.
Rosenberg’s bill specifically defines the people covered under the legislation as “personalities” whose “identity has commercial value.” The protections would be extended to all types of celebrities, including athletes, Rosenberg said. Similar legislation passed in the Senate last session, but did not pass in the House.