(a) An assignee or transferee of publicity rights shall have the right to make a publicity rights name registration.

Attorney's Note

Under the Hawaii Revised Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class C felonyup to 5 yearsup to $10,000
misdemeanorup to 1 year$2,000
For details, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-660 and Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-663
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-8

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Director: means the director of commerce and consumer affairs. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-1
  • Individual: means a natural person, living or dead. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Name: means the actual or assumed name, or nickname, of a living or deceased individual that is intended to identify that individual. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-1
  • Person: means any natural person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, company, syndicate, receiver, common law trust, conservator, statutory trust, or any other entity by whatever name known or however organized, formed, or created, and includes nonprofit corporations, associations, educational and religious institutions, political parties, and community, civic, or other organizations. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-1
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personality: means any individual whose name, voice, signature, likeness, or other attribute of their personality has commercial value, whether or not that individual uses the individual's name, voice, signature, likeness, or other attribute of their personality on or in products, merchandise, goods, or for purposes of marketing, advertising, selling, or soliciting the purchase of products, merchandise, goods, or services. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-1
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Publicity rights name registration: means a registration with the department of commerce and consumer affairs in the manner provided under this chapter. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 482P-1
(b) Publicity rights of a deceased person that were not previously assigned or transferred shall be part of the deceased person’s estate and shall be administered by the personal representative of the deceased person as personal property of the deceased person. On or before closing of probate of a deceased person’s estate, the publicity rights of the deceased person shall vest in the transferees of the personal property of the estate in conformity with the deceased person’s will or probate order. If publicity rights are not expressly addressed by the terms of the will or a probate order, and if a publicity rights name registration is not in effect at the time of the relevant assignment or license, after probate closes, any one of the transferees of the personal property of the deceased person’s estate shall have the right to assign or license the publicity rights of the deceased person, and a valid license from any of the transferees of the personal property of the deceased person’s estate shall constitute a complete defense to any infringement action under this section.
(c) Any person seeking to license publicity rights from a living person shall have the right to presume that a living individual or personality has the right to assign or license the individual’s or personality’s publicity rights unless there is a publicity rights name registration for that individual or personality. If there is a publicity rights name registration for that individual or personality, the person seeking to license publicity rights shall inform the living person in writing that an assignment or license shall be sought from the holder of the publicity rights name registration before entering into the assignment or license.
(d) If there is a publicity rights name registration for a given individual or personality, any person seeking to license publicity rights for that individual or personality shall have the right to presume that the holder of the publicity rights name registration has the right to assign or license the individual’s or personality’s publicity rights and a valid license from the registered holder of the publicity rights name registration shall constitute a complete defense to any infringement action under this section; provided that the assignee or transferee has kept the publicity rights name registration active and in force and maintained the accuracy of the information in the publicity rights name registration filing.
(e) A person commits an offense if the person signs, manually or via electronic means, a document the person knows is false in any material respect with the intent that the document be delivered or transmitted to the director in connection with a publicity rights name registration under this section. An offense under this subsection shall be a class C felony and may carry a fine not to exceed $10,000.
(f) A person commits a misdemeanor if the person negligently and without intent to defraud signs, manually or via electronic means, a document that is false in any material respect with intent that the document be delivered or transmitted to the director in connection with a publicity rights name registration under this section. Commission of a misdemeanor under this subsection may carry a fine not to exceed $2,000.
(g) Any person who knowingly makes a false or fraudulent representation or declaration in connection with a publicity rights name registration pursuant to this section shall be liable for all damages sustained as a result of the false or fraudulent publicity rights name registration as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.

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