Ohio Code 2741.06 – Civil action to enforce publicity right
(A) The following persons may bring a civil action to enforce the rights set forth in this chapter:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2741.06
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Probate: Proving a will
- Right of publicity: means the property right in an individual's persona to use the individual's persona for a commercial purpose. See Ohio Code 2741.01
(1) A person or persons, including an individual whose right of publicity is at issue, who collectively own all of an individual’s right of publicity, subject to any licenses regarding that right of publicity;
(2) A person, including a licensee of an individual’s right of publicity, who is expressly authorized in writing by the owner or owners of an individual’s right of publicity to bring a civil action;
(3) Except as otherwise expressly provided in an agreement transferring an aspect of an individual’s right of publicity and subject to division (C) of this section, a person to whom ownership or any portion of ownership of an individual’s right of publicity has been transferred.
(B) Before bringing a civil action under this section, a person who owns less than all of an individual’s right of publicity shall notify the individual whose right of publicity is the subject of the proposed action, if living, by regular mail addressed to the last known address of that individual. The person also shall notify any persons to whom the individual’s right of publicity has been transferred of the proposed civil action by the following means:
(1) Regular mail addressed to the last known address of each transferee;
(2) If the address of the transferee is not known, publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the individual whose right of publicity is the subject of the proposed civil action resides, or, in the case of a deceased individual, in the county in which the individual’s estate has been or would have been admitted to probate.
(C) The individual whose right of publicity is the subject of the proposed civil action brought under this section, and any person to whom ownership of that right of publicity has been transferred, may object to the proposed civil action within twenty days from the date of the mailing of the notice referred to in division (B) of this section or sixty days from the date of publication referred to in that division by giving written notice of the objection to the person proposing the civil action. If the individual or transferee does not object to the civil action within the time period specified in this division, the individual or transferee is forever barred from objecting to that action.
A person may not bring a civil action under this section if a person or persons, including the individual whose right of publicity is the subject of the proposed civil action, who collectively own more than fifty per cent of the individual’s right of publicity object to the proposed civil action.
(D) A person, other than a licensee of an individual’s right of publicity, who owns less than all of an individual’s right of publicity and who brings a civil action under this chapter shall account to any other person owning an interest in that right of publicity to the extent of the other person’s interest with respect to any net recovery in a civil action less the person’s costs of collection and reasonable attorney’s fees.