Sounds funny to say it that way but it makes sense, especially after you read this decision holding that the purported owners of the Marilyn Monroe persona, cannot enforce their rights in New York, because a post-mortem right of publicity did not exist at the time of Marilyn Monroe’s death, and the testator can only devise that which exists at the time of death.
Best title by WSJ’s law blog: “Goodbye Norma Jean (And to Your Right of Publicity)