How creators and artists can control their legacy after death

Michael Crichton, the creator of ER and author of Jurassic Park, died in 2008. So why is his estate suing Warner Bros. now? It turns out that when Crichton agreed to develop the ER series, he kept the right to approve—or not approve—of any sequels. That right didn’t die with him. Now that Warner is developing a new medical drama series, The Pitt, Crichton’s estate is claiming that the new show is simply a reboot of ER. Although the new show has some similarities, including some of the same actors, Warner denies the allegations. The dispute is the most recent in a series of high-profile legal cases brought to protect the legacy of a now-dead creative artist. And yes, even after death artists can retain some control over their work. As law professors who teach about trusts and estates, we’re following these cases so we can teach our students how authors, artists, and other creative people can preserve their legacies. We’re particularly interested in three situations featuring celebrities, because they show how complicated it is to protect artists—especially in the age of artificial intelligence. Contracts offer lasting control When a creator sells a film or TV project, the buyer usually seeks to acquire rights to produce sequels, remakes, and spin-offs associated with the original intellectual property. Selling so-called derivative rights can allow the creator to maximize the sale price and the buyer to exploit the creative idea to the fullest extent. Crichton, however, had so much industry clout that he was able to negotiate more favorable contracts for some of his most famous projects. In 1994, for example, Crichton signed a contract with Warner Bros. that led to the production of the NBC medical drama ER, which enjoyed a 331-episode run while generating more than $3.5 billion in revenue. Because of Crichton’s stature, he won a rarely granted frozen rights provision requiring his consent for Warner Bros. to produce any “sequels, remakes, spin-offs, and/or other derivative works.” That frozen rights contract survived his death, as do contractual rights generally. So, on August 27, 2024, following Warner Bros.’s recently announced production of a new medical drama starring ER’s original lead, Noah Wyle, Crichton’s widow filed a lawsuit that invoked the frozen rights clause to challenge The Pitt as an unauthorized reboot. Copyright protection endures after death A copyright grants exclusive rights to the creator of a work authorship for the life of the author plus 70 more years. After the author dies, the copyright may be enforced by their estate. Recently, for instance, the estate of Isaac Hayes objected to the use of the late songwriter’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’” by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to a federal lawsuit filed on August 21, the Trump campaign has “unlawfully performed” the song at least 133 times since 2020, including at the 2024 Republican National Convention. The Hayes estate demanded that Trump stop using the song and is seeking $3 million in royalties for prior performances. On September 4, the judge sided with the estate in a preliminary ruling. The Hayes dispute shows the importance of copyright protections—and also the significance of music in the 2024 presidential race, since Hayes’s estate wasn’t alone in objecting to Trump’s use of its music. Another recent case involved Vultures 1, a new studio recording album collaboration between Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla Sign. According to the estate of Donna Summer, Vultures 1 contained an “unauthorized interpolation” of Summer’s 1977 hit song “I Feel Love.” Summer died in 2012. In a lawsuit filed in February 2024, Summer’s estate explained that it rejected a request to license the song because it “wanted no association with West’s controversial history.” Despite that refusal, West and Dolla Sign “rerecorded almost verbatim the key, memorable portions of Summer’s iconic song, used it as the hook for their own song, and released it to the public knowing they had tried and failed to secure legal permission from its rightful owners and had no legal right to do so,” according to the complaint. When the parties settled in June, the lawyer for Summer’s estate stated publicly that the agreement didn’t include permission to license the song. Publicity rights can protect an artist’s legacy Publicity rights allow people to prevent the commercial use of their identity, including their name and likeness, without that person’s consent. About 20 states protect that right after death. Tennessee just extended its protections to prevent unauthorized use of an individual’s voice and AI applications with the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security, or ELVIS, Act. It is the first state to do so. In early 2024, the estate of comedian George Carlin sued creators of the Dudesy podcast for violating his publicity rights by releasing an AI-generated episode titled “G