Appendix D—A Comic Creator’s Guide to the Right of Publicity & Other Privacy Rights

An offshoot of privacy law, the right of publicity is a person’s right to benefit from the commercial exploitation of his or her own identity. Infringement of the right of publicity occurs from the unauthorized use of a person’s identity (or likeness, voice, name, etc.) for commercial purposes (i.e., labeling goods and services with the unauthorized likeness or using the unauthorized identity in commercials and advertisements).