What is a "celebrity estate?"
February 10, 2025 3:34 PM Subscribe
What is the legal basis for the "estate" of a dead celebrity taking legal action?
Prince's estate was in the news recently for killing a netflix documentary. I often hear about the "estates" of authors/musicians/celebrities taking action based on the use of a deceased person's likeness or intellectual property.
In these situations, who/what is the estate? Is it the same type of "estate" that normal people leave after death that gets settled by an executor? Or is it a different legal entity? What rights do these estates have?
Prince's estate was in the news recently for killing a netflix documentary. I often hear about the "estates" of authors/musicians/celebrities taking action based on the use of a deceased person's likeness or intellectual property.
In these situations, who/what is the estate? Is it the same type of "estate" that normal people leave after death that gets settled by an executor? Or is it a different legal entity? What rights do these estates have?
Probably the most relevant thing is a "literary estate." Apparently they are similar to trusts and can last as long as the copyright in the assets does. Sometimes they are actually organized as trusts or corporations.
posted by BungaDunga at 5:05 PM on February 10 [2 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 5:05 PM on February 10 [2 favorites]
Same as anyone else's estates, except that celebrities are famous enough that their estate battles are more likely to be reported on in the media, and celebrities have a chance of being rich enough that they've left behind assets sufficient, and/or structured in such a way, that the people in charge of the estate after the celebrity's death can actually follow through on the suit. If Bob Homeless gets run over by a car and dies, he's not famous enough for us to hear much about the wrongful death lawsuit that Joe Contingentfee, Esq. brings on his estate's behalf.
posted by Whale Oil at 8:00 PM on February 10 [2 favorites]
posted by Whale Oil at 8:00 PM on February 10 [2 favorites]
The estate is the set of heirs or a trust representing their interests. Prince died without a will so this is his half-siblings. They formed two separate holding companies which split the rights.
The main relevant right here is right of publicity. So if you wanted to make a Prince action figure you would have to go through the estate. However, this right is limited. You can't prevent factual accounts, news, biographies, criticism, or parody. Netflix could make a documentary without involvement of the estate. However, estates have lots of potential ways of stopping a project like this:
Music rights. A Prince documentary would likely be pretty bad without any clips of his music, and the estate might not have given permission for that.
Footage. All the footage filmed of Prince's life is copyrighted by someone. If the documentary wanted to use home video, studio recordings, or concert recordings the estate likely owns some of them or could ask the copyright owner not to give permission.
Just being against the project. The documentary would presumably include some interviews with collaborators or family members. If the estate asks them not to they are less likely to cooperate.
posted by hermanubis at 10:58 PM on February 10 [3 favorites]
The main relevant right here is right of publicity. So if you wanted to make a Prince action figure you would have to go through the estate. However, this right is limited. You can't prevent factual accounts, news, biographies, criticism, or parody. Netflix could make a documentary without involvement of the estate. However, estates have lots of potential ways of stopping a project like this:
Music rights. A Prince documentary would likely be pretty bad without any clips of his music, and the estate might not have given permission for that.
Footage. All the footage filmed of Prince's life is copyrighted by someone. If the documentary wanted to use home video, studio recordings, or concert recordings the estate likely owns some of them or could ask the copyright owner not to give permission.
Just being against the project. The documentary would presumably include some interviews with collaborators or family members. If the estate asks them not to they are less likely to cooperate.
posted by hermanubis at 10:58 PM on February 10 [3 favorites]
There was a case decided in the UK earlier this week about who owns the rights to the three albums recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Sony Music argues it owns the rights, whilst the estates of the late Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, the other band members, argue they each own a 25% share, and that, as a result, the estates are owed millions in royalties. So if someone (a musician, writer, artist) leaves a lasting legacy that endures after their death, it can be worth a great deal of money to their heirs.
posted by essexjan at 1:02 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]
posted by essexjan at 1:02 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]
Best answer: It's basically newspaper-speak for whoever now holds the rights to their work and therefore gets to make decisions and sue people about it. Sometimes there may be a trust, a company, or some other legal entity that exists for the purpose. Other times it may just be their heirs as individuals.
It doesn't really correspond to the legal meaning of an estate, because by the time these things happen the estate will have been settled long ago by whoever executed the will, and the assets distributed accordingly.
But the media basically has a convention about granting these people anonymity by just referring to them as "Famous Person's estate", rather than digging into exactly who that is. Unless those details are themselves a juicy story.
posted by automatronic at 3:48 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]
It doesn't really correspond to the legal meaning of an estate, because by the time these things happen the estate will have been settled long ago by whoever executed the will, and the assets distributed accordingly.
But the media basically has a convention about granting these people anonymity by just referring to them as "Famous Person's estate", rather than digging into exactly who that is. Unless those details are themselves a juicy story.
posted by automatronic at 3:48 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]
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Power level—I worked on an earlier version of a doc about him from a different director. That one got squashed by the estate.
Explanation from law firm.
2022 from Billboard.
2024 explanation from probate lawyer (not his.)
posted by Ideefixe at 4:19 PM on February 10 [9 favorites]