Tennessee Senate Bill SB2655

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/2/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8, Chapter 3; Title 47, Chapter 25 and Title 47, Chapter 18, relative to personal rights protections.

Summary

SB2655 amends Tennessee’s consumer protection law governing the sale or licensing of personal rights, specifically the statute at Tennessee Code Annotated § 47-25-1104. The bill changes the duration of a person’s post-mortem publicity rights protection from 10 years to 100 years by replacing the existing 10-year term in two places in the statute. In practical terms, this would greatly extend the period during which a deceased individual’s name, image, likeness, or other protected personal rights could be controlled and enforced under Tennessee law. The bill is framed as a “personal rights protections” measure and is set to take effect on July 1, 2026. Because the text only amends the duration of protection, it does not create a new regulatory scheme; instead, it substantially expands the existing statutory protection period for estates, heirs, and rights holders. The change would likely affect licensing, commercial use, and enforcement of publicity rights for deceased individuals, as well as businesses that use celebrity or personal identity rights in advertising, merchandise, media, or related commercial contexts.

Impact

SB2655 would amend Tennessee’s existing statutes in Title 47, Chapter 25 by extending the term of protection for personal rights/publicity rights from 10 years to 100 years after death. This would significantly broaden the time during which estates or successors can control and monetize a deceased person’s identity rights, and it would impose longer compliance obligations on commercial users of names, images, likenesses, and similar protected attributes. The bill does not appear to alter the underlying scope of protected rights, only the duration of protection.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate, amendment, or partisan division in the available record. Based on the bill’s narrow text, the measure appears to be a targeted rights-protection expansion rather than a broad policy overhaul. The absence of recorded opposition or support in the supplied materials means the overall sentiment cannot be assessed from discussion history, though the bill’s purpose suggests it was introduced as a protective measure for individuals’ posthumous rights.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the dramatic extension of the protection period from 10 years to 100 years. Supporters would likely view this as strengthening property-like rights in a person’s identity and giving families or estates a longer window to control commercial exploitation. Opponents could argue that a 100-year term is overly long, may restrict speech or creative uses, and could burden businesses, publishers, filmmakers, and advertisers that rely on historical or cultural figures. Because no transcripts were provided, no specific lawmakers or stakeholder groups are identified in the record, but the likely tension is between rights holders and commercial/free-use interests.