Federal Court Rejects Albert Einstein Right of Publicity Claim

In rejecting a right of publicity claim by Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which claims to control the rights to Albert Einstein, a California federal court has ruled that the common law right of publicity under New Jersey law has a maximum post-mortem duration of 50 years. The right of publicity gives an individual the right to control the use of his or her identity for commercial purposes during his or her lifetime and, in some states, for a period after death.

In Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem v. Gen. Motors LLC, Hebrew University brought an action based on, among other claims, the New Jersey common law right of publicity against General Motors for General Motors' use of an image of Einstein in an advertisement for the GMC Terrain vehicle. The advertisement, which ran in only one issue of People...