## Facts

- Elvis Presley, during his lifetime, assigned to Boxcar Enterprises the exclusive right to exploit the commercial value of his name and likeness for royalties.
- Presley died in Memphis on August 16, 1977.
- Shortly after his death, Boxcar licensed its assigned rights to Factors Etc., Inc. for $150,000, with consent from Presley’s father acting for the estate.
- Memphis Development Foundation, a Tennessee nonprofit, planned to erect a large bronze statue of Presley in downtown Memphis.
- To raise funds, the Foundation solicited donations and provided donors of $25 or more an eight-inch pewter replica of the proposed statue.
- Factors asserted that the replicas amounted to commercial exploitation of Presley’s name and likeness within Factors’ exclusive rights and sought to stop distribution.

## Issues

1. Under Tennessee law, does the right of publicity survive a celebrity’s death so that heirs or assignees may enforce exclusive commercial control of the celebrity’s name and likeness against third parties?
2. If the right of publicity ends at death, can contractual assignment or licensing extend it beyond the celebrity’s lifetime?

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s injunction insofar as it rested on a surviving, exclusive post-death right of publicity.
- The court held that, under Tennessee law, the right of publicity is not inheritable and does not survive the individual’s death.
- Because the right does not continue after death, Factors could not bar the Foundation from distributing the replica statuettes on a right-of-publicity theory.

## Legal Principles

- Under Tennessee common law (as predicted by the Sixth Circuit), the right of publicity terminates at death and is not descendible.
- After death, the commercial opportunity in a celebrity’s identity passes to the public domain and is equally available to all.
- A lifetime right of publicity may be assigned and licensed during life, but an assignment cannot extend the right beyond its legally recognized duration.
- Absent clear legislative action, courts should not create a broad, post-mortem proprietary control over a deceased celebrity’s name and likeness.

## Conclusion

The court rejected a post-mortem, exclusive right of publicity under Tennessee law, ruling that Presley’s publicity rights ended at death and could not be enforced by an assignee to stop the Foundation’s fundraising distribution of replica statuettes.


Memphis Dev. Found. v. Factors Etc., Inc., 616 F.2d 956 (6th Cir. 1980)