9th Circuit: Marilyn Monroe Not Protected By California’s Post-Mortem Publicity Statute

• Case Summary:
  A famous actor’s estate fails in its bid to prevent the exploitation of her image and likeness because she was domiciled in New York at the time of her death, and that state does not provide for a postmortem right of publicity.
• Key Takeaway:
  Advocates for a federal right of publicity statute say that the Ninth Circuit’s decision demonstrates the patchwork nature of governing state laws.

After decades of claiming that Marilyn Monroe died domiciled in New York in order to avoid paying estate taxes to California, the actor’s estate was judicially estopped from claiming that she was ...