Minnesota State Legislature Introduces "Prince Act"

Today, a new bill influenced by Prince‘s death was introduced in Minnesota’s Senate and House of Representatives, Billboard reports. If enacted into law, the Personal Rights in Names Can Endure Act (aka the PRINCE Act) would restrict the use of Prince’s name and likeness in commercial ventures and offer more publicity control to the late musician’s estate. While the bill is directly inspired by Prince’s death, the measure applies to any citizen of Minnesota—not just celebrities or public figures. According to MPR, the bill was introduced by Rep. Joe Hoppe, who called the bill an attempt “to recognize the right of publicity postmortem.” The law would protect a deceased person’s name, image, voice, and signature for 50 years following the individual’s death. 

Prince was found dead on April 21 at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He was 57. The nearby Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office completed an autopsy on April 22 but said gathering the results of toxicology tests could take weeks. It was recently revealed that federal officials, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, are assisting the local sheriff’s department in the investigation surrounding Prince’s death.

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