Bill Text: NJ A139 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Prohibits unauthorized use of name, image or likeness of members of Armed Forces of United States.*

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-06-16 - Reported out of Assembly Comm. with Amendments, 2nd Reading [A139 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2010-A139-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 139

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

214th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman  ALISON LITTELL MCHOSE

District 24 (Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris)

Assemblyman  GARY R. CHIUSANO

District 24 (Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris)

Assemblywoman  CLEOPATRA G. TUCKER

District 28 (Essex)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Prohibits unauthorized use of name, image, or likeness of members of Armed Forces of United States.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee on June 16, 2011, with amendments.

  

An Act prohibiting the unauthorized use of ¹[names and images] the name, image or likeness¹ of members of the Armed Forces of the United States and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    As used in this act:

     "Living survivor of the protected individual" means the living survivor or survivors of the protected individual highest on the following list: the surviving spouse; the children; the parents; the grandparents; or the siblings.

     "Protected individual" means any person who is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; or was a member of the Armed Forces at any time ¹[after]¹ on or after ¹[April 6, 1917] August 2, 1990¹, and, if not living, has a surviving spouse, child, parent, grandparent, or sibling.

 

     2.    No person may knowingly use the name ¹[or],¹ image ¹, or likeness¹ of a protected individual, except with the written permission of the protected individual, or if the protected individual is deceased, the living survivor of the protected individual, in connection with any merchandise, retail product, impersonation, solicitation, or commercial activity in a manner reasonably calculated to:

     a.     connect the protected individual with that individual's service in the Armed Forces; and

     b.    convey the impression that such use is approved, endorsed, or authorized by the protected individual or the living survivors of the protected individual.

 

     ¹3.   The provisions of this act, P.L.   c,    (C.  ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall not apply to:

     a.     the use of the name, image, or likeness of a protected individual in any factual or fictional audiovisual work created for informational or entertainment purposes or in any newspaper, magazine, book, internet publication, news broadcast, telecast or webcast, or other news medium or publication as part of a bona fide news report or presentation having a current and legitimate public interest and any advertisement, promotion or commercial announcement for any of the preceding works; 

     b.    an owner, employee or provider of any medium used for the
distribution, transmission or aggregation of advertising, news reporting and/or entertainment content, unless it is established that the owner, employee, or provider had actual knowledge that the use of the name or image or likeness of a protected individual was in violation of P.L.   , c.   (C.  )(pending before the Legislature as this bill);

     c.     any person or entity offering the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received;

     d.    a cable operator, multi-channel video distributor, or telecommunications carrier, for content transmitted or distributed over its system that was provided by another information content provider; and

     e.     the use of the attributes, including the name, image, or likeness, of a protected individual to facilitate the delivery of advertising through a communications network, or for the nominative use of a protected individual's attributes for advertising, if the use or advertising does not falsely suggest an endorsement or sponsorship by the personality of the product, good or service.¹

 

     ¹[3.] 4.¹  a. Any person who violates the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense and shall, notwithstanding subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:43-3, be fined not less than $1,000 or more than $2,500.  The penalty shall be exclusive of and in addition to any other penalties provided under Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

     b.    Whenever there shall be a violation of this act an application may be made by the Attorney General in the name of the people of the State to a court having jurisdiction to issue an injunction, and upon notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of the violation; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court that the defendant has, in fact, violated this act, an injunction may be issued by the court, enjoining and restraining any further violations, without requiring proof that any person has in fact been injured or damaged.

 

     ¹[4.] 5.¹  This act shall take effect immediately.