(A) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person shall not use any aspect of an individual’s persona for a commercial purpose:

Terms Used In Ohio Code 2741.02

  • Commercial purpose: means the use of or reference to an aspect of an individual's persona in any of the following manners:

    (1) On or in connection with a place, product, merchandise, goods, services, or other commercial activities not expressly exempted under this chapter;

    (2) For advertising or soliciting the purchase of products, merchandise, goods, services, or other commercial activities not expressly exempted under this chapter;

    (3) For the purpose of promoting travel to a place;

    (4) For the purpose of fundraising. See Ohio Code 2741.01

  • Name: means the actual, assumed, or clearly identifiable name of or reference to a living or deceased individual that identifies the individual. See Ohio Code 2741.01
  • Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Persona: means an individual's name, voice, signature, photograph, image, likeness, or distinctive appearance, if any of these aspects have commercial value. See Ohio Code 2741.01
  • Right of publicity: means the property right in an individual's persona to use the individual's persona for a commercial purpose. See Ohio Code 2741.01
  • United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Written consent: includes written, electronic, digital, or any other verifiable means of authorization. See Ohio Code 2741.01

(1) During the individual’s lifetime;

(2) For a period of sixty years after the date of the individual’s death; or

(3) For a period of ten years after the date of death of a deceased member of the Ohio national guard or the armed forces of the United States.

(B) A person may use an individual’s persona for a commercial purpose during the individual’s lifetime if the person first obtains the written consent to use the individual’s persona from a person specified in section 2741.05 of the Revised Code. If an individual whose persona is at issue has died, a person may use the individual’s persona for a commercial purpose if either of the following applies:

(1) The person first obtains the written consent to use the individual’s persona from a person specified in section 2741.05 of the Revised Code who owns the individual’s right of publicity.

(2) The name of the individual whose persona is used was the name of a business entity or a trade name at the time of the individual’s death.

(C) Subject to the terms of any agreement between a person specified in section 2741.05 of the Revised Code and a person to whom that person grants consent to use an individual’s right of publicity, a consent obtained before the death of an individual whose persona is at issue remains valid after the individual’s death.

(D) For purposes of this section:

(1) A use of an aspect of an individual’s persona in connection with any news, public affairs, sports broadcast, or account does not constitute a use for which consent is required under division (A) of this section.

(2) A use of an aspect of an individual’s persona in connection with any political campaign and in compliance with Title XXXV of the Revised Code does not constitute a use for which consent is required under division (A) of this section.

(E) The owners or employees of any medium used for advertising, including but not limited to, a newspaper, magazine, radio or television network or station, cable television system, billboard, transit ad, and global communications network, by whom any advertisement or solicitation in violation of this section is published or disseminated are not liable under this section or section 2741.07 of the Revised Code unless it is established that those owners or employees had knowledge of the unauthorized use of the persona as prohibited by this section.

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