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Retro illustration of a reel-to-reel tape deck, a ribbon-tied leather folder, a fountain pen and an empty picture frame on a mahogany desk, for a post on post-mortem right of publicity and domicile

Money & Residency4 min read

Robert Palmer's Likeness Deal and Post-Mortem Publicity Rights

Whether those rights exist can turn on where he lived when he died.

On September 23, 2026, Primary Wave announced a partnership with the estate of Robert Palmer, the voice behind "Addicted to Love." According to Music Business Worldwide, Primary Wave will work on his publishing and recording catalog and "share in his name, image, and likeness rights." Financial terms weren't disclosed. MBW says the two sides plan "new marketing, branding, digital, and sync opportunities, as well as film and television projects." Palmer died on September 26, 2003, at 54.

Here's the money question nobody puts in the headline. A dead star's likeness only has a legal owner if some law says it survives him, and the law that applies can depend on where he lived when he died. That's a residency question, and it's settled at death. Estates and catalog buyers price this. So should anyone planning their own.

Takeaway #1: New York asks where you were domiciled

FROM THE RULE

"\"deceased personality\" means any deceased natural person domiciled in this state at the time of death whose name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness has commercial value at the time of such natural person's death, or because of such natural person's death ..."

N.Y. Civil Rights Law §50-f(1)(b)

What it means for you. New York's post-mortem right covers people "domiciled in this state at the time of death." Not where they died. Not where they once lived. Domicile is the place you treat as your permanent home, the one you intend to return to. Owning an apartment in Manhattan doesn't make it yours.

Those rights are "property rights, freely transferable or descendible," which is what lets an estate share them with a company like Primary Wave. New York also builds in a filing step. A successor "shall not have a cause of action for a use prohibited by this section that occurs before the successor in interest or licensee registers a claim of the rights" with the Secretary of State. Claims end "forty years after the death." The minimum award is "the greater of two thousand dollars or the compensatory damages." New York also has a separate digital-replica claim for deceased performers.

There's also a date limit: §50-f only covers people who died on or after May 29, 2021. Palmer died in 2003, so it doesn't reach him wherever he lived. We don't know his domicile, and we're not guessing.

Your move. Estates: confirm which state's law covers the decedent, then register the claim where registration is required before you license anything. Buyers: put the domicile answer and the registration in the deal's representations.

Takeaway #2: California reads differently

FROM THE RULE

"This section shall apply to the adjudication of liability and the imposition of any damages or other remedies in cases in which the liability, damages, and other remedies arise from acts occurring directly in this state."

Cal. Civil Code §3344.1(o)

What it means for you. New York has the same sentence (§50-f(12)). The real difference: California's definition of "deceased personality" in §3344.1(h) doesn't mention domicile, and the statute is "expressly made retroactive" (§3344.1(q)). The term is longer: no action for uses "occurring after the expiration of 70 years after the death." For an unconsented digital replica in "an expressive audiovisual work or sound recording," damages are "the greater of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or the actual damages." California also has a registration rule: a successor "shall not recover damages for a use prohibited by this section that occurs before the successor in interest or licensee registers a claim."

The devil is in the details. Courts have applied the domicile's law anyway. In 2002, the Ninth Circuit threw out a California claim over Princess Diana's likeness because California's choice-of-law rule pointed to Britain, her domicile, which has no such right. So where someone lived can still decide the case. Forty years versus seventy years is real money for a catalog that keeps earning.

Your move. Talent planning ahead: keep your domicile records consistent, because they may decide whether your name and likeness survive you. Say in your will or trust who gets those rights; both states let them pass "by contract" or "trust or any other testamentary instrument."

And always remember, don't sign it till you read it, my friends.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Reading this doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Talk to an estate lawyer about your own plan.

Sources

  1. Music Business Worldwide, 'Robert Palmer estate strikes deal with Primary Wave...', Sept 23, 2026
  2. N.Y. Civil Rights Law §50-f (NY Senate Open Legislation)
  3. Cal. Civil Code §3344.1 (California Legislative Information)
  4. New York Department of State, Right of Publicity (L. 2020, ch. 304, §3: deaths on or after May 29, 2021)
  5. Cairns v. Franklin Mint Co., 292 F.3d 1139 (9th Cir. 2002)

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