United States of America: Act establishing property rights over name, voice, and visual likeness and penalties for unauthorised digital replication (HB 513) was passed by House of Representatives

On 28 February 2025, the Act establishing property rights over name, voice, and visual likeness and penalties for unauthorised digital replication (HB 513) was passed by the Montana House of Representatives and will be transmitted to the Senate. The Bill would establish property rights over an individual’s name, voice, and visual likeness, applicable to Montana residents or individuals domiciled in the state at death. It would introduce liability for distributing or publishing tools or technologies with actual knowledge that they are intended to produce unauthorised digital voice or visual depictions for commercial use. Such depictions are defined as computer-generated renderings that closely resemble an individual’s real voice or appearance. The proposed rights would be licensable, transferable, and descendible for 20 years after death. Civil liability would include actual damages and attributable profits, with claimants required to show only gross revenue from the unauthorised use. The Bill would exempt broadband internet access service providers and uses protected under the United States Constitution, including news reporting, commentary, criticism, satire, parody, scholarship, and uses that are fleeting or negligible. If enacted, the Act would enter into force on 1 January 2026.