New York Civil Rights Law §§ 50 & 51: Right of Publicity

The New York right of publicity is set out in Sections 50 and 51 of the Civil Rights Law, which together make it illegal to use a living person’s name, portrait, picture, voice, or likeness for advertising or trade in New York without that person’s written consent. Section 50 defines the offense as a misdemeanor. Section 51 lets the person sue to stop the use, collect damages, and in some cases recover punitive damages on top.¹² The protection reaches everyone, not just celebrities.

What Uses the Law Covers

The statute targets two things: advertising purposes and trade purposes. Advertising means direct promotion of a product or service, like putting someone’s face on a billboard, running their voice in a radio spot, or featuring their photo in a sponsored social media post to drive sales.² Trade purposes covers broader commercial exploitation that doesn’t look like a traditional ad but still generates revenue, such as printing an athlete’s likeness on mugs or t-shirts for retail sale.

New York courts read these categories narrowly. The point is genuine commercial exploitation, not any content that happens to make money. A for-profit newspaper that publishes someone’s photo alongside a news story isn’t engaged in trade; the publisher’s profit motive doesn’t convert editorial content into a commercial use. The real question is whether the person’s identity was deployed to sell something or to inform an audience.

“Portrait or picture” is also read broadly. In Onassis v. Christian Dior-New York, Inc., the court held that using a look-alike in an advertisement violated Sections 50 and 51 because the ad was clearly designed to evoke a specific person’s identity, even though it wasn’t an actual photograph of her.³ A company can’t dodge the statute by hiring a body double or using a sketch.

Social Media and Digital Content

Sections 50 and 51 apply to digital platforms the same way they apply to print and broadcast. A brand that reposts a customer’s photo to promote its products without consent is engaged in advertising under the statute, and the same goes for influencer campaigns that use someone’s likeness without authorization. A casual social media post, though, doesn’t automatically become “advertising” just because it appears on a commercial account. Someone visible in the background of a restaurant’s Instagram photo would have a hard time establishing a violation, because the post wasn’t built around their identity to drive sales.

Who the Law Protects

Section 50 protects “any living person” whose identity is used commercially in New York without written consent.¹ A private citizen whose photo is pulled off a public sidewalk and dropped into a commercial flyer has the same standing as a celebrity whose face appears on unauthorized merchandise. Fame is not the issue.

Minors are covered. For a child’s identity to be used commercially, written consent must come from a parent or guardian, and the statute requires authorization from only one parent or the child’s legal guardian, not both.¹

Businesses can’t bring claims under these sections. The statute refers to “person, firm or corporation” only when describing who can be sued; the protected class is natural persons.² A company whose trade name or branding has been misappropriated needs a different claim, such as a trademark action.

One boundary worth knowing: Sections 50 and 51 themselves protect only the living. Once a person dies, those two provisions no longer apply to their estate. New York addresses that gap through Section 50-f, which extends publicity rights up to 40 years after death for a “deceased personality” who was domiciled in New York at death and whose name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness had commercial value at or because of death. Section 50-f also specifically covers computer-generated digital replicas, with carve-outs for parody, satire, commentary, criticism, newsworthy content, documentaries, biographical works, and incidental or de minimis uses.⁴

When Written Consent Is Required

Both Section 50 and Section 51 require consent in writing before a person’s identity can be used for advertising or trade.¹ Verbal agreements, handshake deals, and implied permission from showing up to a shoot do not satisfy the statute. A model who poses doesn’t waive their rights by participating; the business still needs a signed document.

A well-drafted release should identify which identity markers are being licensed (name, photograph, voice, or some combination), specify the media and formats where the identity will appear, and set a clear duration. Open-ended releases that grant perpetual, unlimited rights are legally permissible, but they often lead to disputes when the use expands beyond what the person expected. Spelling out the particular campaign, product line, or time period reduces that friction.

The statute doesn’t give a general right to revoke consent once it’s validly given. Outside the narrow photographer-display situation discussed below, the written agreement controls. If a release has no expiration date and no termination clause, the person may have no statutory right to force the business to stop. Negotiate duration and scope before signing, not after.

When Consent Isn’t Required

Newsworthiness

The right of publicity would collide with the First Amendment if it applied to journalism, documentaries, or other editorial content. New York courts avoid that collision through the newsworthiness doctrine: when a person’s identity appears in content whose primary purpose is informing or entertaining the public about a matter of legitimate public interest, the use falls outside Sections 50 and 51. The leading case is Gautier v. Pro-Football, Inc., where the Court of Appeals held that televising a performer during a professional football game was not a trade use because the broadcast served an informational purpose rather than exploiting the performer’s identity to sell a product.⁵

A newspaper can run a photo of an identifiable person at a public protest without a release. A documentary can feature interview subjects discussing public figures. Even substantial fictionalization in a biographical or historical work can be protected, though purely fabricated portrayals that cross into commercial exploitation may lose the defense.

Statutory Carve-outs in Section 51

Section 51 contains several specific exceptions that permit use without consent:

A professional photographer may exhibit specimens of their work in or around their studio. This right continues unless the person portrayed sends written notice objecting, at which point the photographer must remove the image.²
If a manufacturer or dealer sells goods that already bear the person’s name or likeness with authorization, the buyer may continue using that identity in connection with those goods.
The name or likeness of an author, composer, or artist may be used in connection with works they have already sold or distributed with their identity attached.
A copyright owner of a sound recording may sell, license, or transfer that recording if a contract or written document from the living person confers that right.²

The photographer exception is the one area where consent, once implied through a sitting, can be effectively revoked by written notice. Everywhere else, the terms of the written agreement govern until they expire.

What You Can Recover

Section 51 gives three forms of relief in a civil lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court:

An injunction ordering the defendant to stop using the person’s identity for advertising or trade. This is often the most urgent remedy, because the ongoing use causes continuing harm.²
Compensatory damages for actual injuries, which can include lost licensing revenue, emotional distress, and the profits the defendant gained from the exploitation.
Exemplary (punitive) damages if the defendant knowingly used the person’s identity in violation of Section 50. A jury may award these at its discretion.²

There is no statutory cap on exemplary damages, and the statute does not entitle a prevailing plaintiff to recover attorney fees. That second point catches people off guard. Even a successful plaintiff bears their own legal costs unless a separate fee-shifting basis exists, which means the economics of a case depend heavily on likely damages relative to litigation expenses. For smaller violations, that math can make a lawsuit impractical even when the law is clearly on your side.

Section 50 also classifies the unauthorized commercial use as a misdemeanor.¹ Criminal prosecutions are rare in practice. Most disputes get resolved through civil litigation under Section 51, where the financial remedies offer a more practical path to relief.

How Long You Have to Sue

A person who wants to sue under Section 51 has one year from the date of publication to file. This deadline comes from the Civil Practice Law and Rules, which lists Section 51 violations among the causes of action subject to a one-year limitations period.⁶

For online content, the clock starts the day the material is first posted, not each time someone views it. New York’s Court of Appeals established this in Firth v. State, rejecting the argument that every website visit should restart the one-year period. The court reasoned that treating each page view as a new publication would have a “serious inhibitory effect on the open, pervasive dissemination of information and ideas over the Internet.”⁷

There is a narrow exception. If the material is substantially modified or republished to reach a new audience, the limitations period may restart. Minor website edits, technical changes, or adding unrelated material to the same site do not qualify. The modification has to be meaningful enough that it essentially constitutes a new communication of the person’s identity to the public. Missing the one-year deadline is fatal to the claim regardless of how serious the violation was, so anyone who discovers an unauthorized use of their identity needs to move quickly.

When Federal Copyright Law Can Override the Claim

A right of publicity claim can collide with federal copyright law. If someone’s photograph or voice recording is embedded in a copyrighted work, the copyright owner may argue that the federal Copyright Act preempts the state publicity claim. Under Section 301(a) of the Copyright Act, a state claim is preempted when it falls within the subject matter of copyright and seeks to vindicate rights functionally equivalent to those copyright already provides. If the complaint is really about controlling the reproduction or distribution of a particular work, preemption is likely. If it targets something copyright doesn’t reach, such as a false suggestion that the person endorsed a product, the state claim usually survives.

1
New York State Senate. New York Civil Rights Law 50 – Right of Privacy
2
New York State Senate. New York Civil Rights Law 51 – Action for Injunction and for Damages
3
CaseMine. Onassis v. Christian Dior – New York, Inc.
4
New York State Senate. New York Civil Rights Law 50-F – Right of Publicity
5
Justia. Gautier v. Pro-Football, Inc.
6
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 215 – Actions to Be Commenced Within One Year
7
Cornell Law Institute. Firth v. State of New York