Minnesota Introduces New Bill Inspired By Prince

Minnesota state legislators are rushing to pass a bill to protect Prince’s name and likeness following his death. The “Personal Rights in Names Can Endure” act, or the “PRINCE Act,” grants extended publicity control over a person’s name, likeness and voice for 50 years after death. If passed, the law will also apply retroactively to anyone who died before it was enacted.

Rep. Joe R. Hoppe, R-Chaska, who lives nearby to Prince’s Paisley Park, introduced the bill.

“I’ve had people say, `Is it just prompted by the death of Prince?’ Yeah, essentially it is. Really, what it’s doing is it’s attempting to recognize the right of publicity postmortem,” Hoppe told MPR News.

If passed, Minnesota would become the 18th state to enact legislation granting extended publicity control to an estate postmortem. The bill is set for review this week.