VOICE & VISUAL LIKENESS RIGHTS ACT

HB0212

HOUSE BILL 212

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Tara L. Lujan
and
Joseph L. Sanchez

AN ACT

RELATING TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY; ENACTING THE VOICE AND
VISUAL LIKENESS RIGHTS ACT; PROVIDING FOR PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT;
PRESCRIBING CIVIL REMEDIES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be
cited as the "Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act".

SECTION 2.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the
Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act:

A. "copyright holder" means the owner of an
exclusive right to an original work pursuant to the terms of a
copyright agreement;

B. "digital replica" means a newly created,
computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation
that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of
an individual that:

(1) is embodied in a sound recording, an image
or an audiovisual work, including an audiovisual work that does
not have accompanying sounds or transmission:

(a) in which the individual did not
actually perform or appear; or

(b) that is a version of a sound
recording, an image or an audiovisual work in which the actual
individual did perform or appear in which the fundamental
character of the performance or appearance has been materially
altered; and

(2) does not include the electronic
reproduction, use of a sample of one sound recording or
audiovisual work into another, remixing, mastering or digital
remastering of a sound recording or an audiovisual work
authorized by a copyright holder;

C. "individual" means an actual person domiciled in
the state, including a deceased individual who was domiciled in
the state at the time of death, whose voice or individual
likeness is at issue with respect to digital replication;

D. "information service" means the offering of a
capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming,
processing, retrieving, utilizing or making available
information via telecommunications and includes electronic
publishing, but does not include the use of any such capability
for the management, control or operation of a
telecommunications service;

E. "interactive computer service" means an
information service, a system or an access software provider
that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a
computer server, specifically including a service or system
that provides access to the internet and systems operated or
services offered by libraries or educational institutions;

F. "online service":

(1) means a public-facing website, application
or virtual reality environment that provides a community forum
for user-generated content, including:

(a) videos, images, games, audio files
or other material;

(b) a digital music provider as defined
in 17 U.S.C. Section 115; or

(c) a social media service, a social
network or an application store; and

(2) does not include a service by wire or
radio that provides the capability to transmit and receive data
from internet endpoints, including capabilities that are
incidental to enable the operation of the communications
service provider of online services or network access or the
operator of facilities for services;

G. "postmortem right" means a right to use an
individual's voice or visual likeness after the death of the
individual pursuant to a written licensing agreement;

H. "production" means the creation of a digital
replica;

I. "right holder" means a person with the right to
authorize the use of an individual's voice or visual likeness
in a digital replica;

J. "sexually explicit conduct" means actual or
simulated:

(1) sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital or oral-anal, whether
between persons of the same or opposite sex;

(2) bestiality;

(3) masturbation;

(4) sadistic or masochistic abuse; or

(5) lascivious exhibition of the anus,
genitals or pubic area of a person;

K. "sound recording artist" means a person who
performs in sound recordings for economic gain;

L. "telecommunications service" means the offering
of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public, or to
classes of users as to be effectively available directly to the
public, regardless of the facilities used; and

M. "use" includes the commercial availability of a
sound recording or audiovisual work in which the individual's
name or voice or visual likeness is readily identifiable.

SECTION 3.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] DIGITAL REPLICATION RIGHT.--

A. The right to an individual's voice or visual
likeness is a property right exclusive to that individual. The
individual may license the use of the individual's voice or
visual likeness with instructions, limitations and conditions
provided by a licensing agreement. The property right shall
not expire on the death of the individual regardless of whether
the right was commercially exploited by a right holder.

B. A right holder who is not the individual may
authorize the use of the voice or visual likeness of the
individual in a digital replica in accordance with the terms of
a licensing agreement. This right is a property right and is
licensable by the right holder. A license may survive the
individual's death. On the individual's death, the right may
be bequeathed by will or pass as personal property by operation
of law.

C. The rights provided in Subsection A of this
section are exclusive to the individual and may not be
transferred during the individual's lifetime. The term of this
right is limited to seventy years after the death of the
individual. A right holder may transfer the rights provided in
Subsection B of this section during the ten-year period after
the death of the individual, and the right may be terminated by
the earlier of:

(1) proof of the non-use of the name, likeness
or voice of an individual by a right holder for two years
subsequent to the initial ten-year period following the
individual's death;

(2) the death of all executors, transferees,
heirs or devisees of the individual; or

(3) seventy years following the death of the
individual.

SECTION 4.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] LICENSES INVOLVING ADULTS AND
MINORS.--

A. A license for an adult individual's or
emancipated minor's right while the individual is living is
valid only to the extent that the license duration does not
exceed ten years and is valid only if the license agreement:

(1) is in writing and signed by the individual
or the authorized representative of the individual; and

(2) includes a reasonably specific description
of the intended uses of the digital replica.

B. A license for a living minor's right is valid
only to the extent that the license duration does not exceed
five years but, in any case, terminates when the minor reaches
eighteen years of age. The license is valid only if the
license agreement:

(1) is in writing and signed by a parent or
guardian of the individual;

(2) includes a reasonably specific description
of the intended uses of the digital replica; and

(3) is approved by a court in accordance with
the laws of the state.

C. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this
section shall not apply if the license is governed by a
collective bargaining agreement that addresses digital
replicas.

D. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this
section shall not affect terms and conditions of a license or
related contract other than those described in those
subsections, and the expiration of such license shall not
affect the remainder of the license or related contract.

SECTION 5.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] POSTMORTEM RIGHTS--
ENFORCEABILITY.--

A. A postmortem right shall not be enforceable
unless the holder of the postmortem right has registered
ownership with the secretary of state by submitting a form
provided by the secretary of state that includes:

(1) the name of the deceased individual;

(2) a statement, under penalty of perjury,
that the right holder has engaged in active and authorized use
of the voice or visual likeness during the applicable period;

(3) the identity and contact information of
the right holder; and

(4) other information as the secretary of
state may prescribe by rule.

B. The secretary of state shall publish an online
registry of postmortem digital replication rights authorized
pursuant to the Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act that is
publicly accessible.

C. The secretary of state may charge a reasonable
filing fee to process registrations and maintain the online
registry.

SECTION 6.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] AUTHORIZED USE AFTER EXPIRATION
OR TERMINATION OF LICENSE.--A digital replica embodied in a
sound recording, an image or an audiovisual work, the use of
which is authorized pursuant to the terms of a license, may be
used in a manner consistent with the terms of the license after
the expiration or termination of the license.

SECTION 7.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] LIABILITY--CIVIL ACTION--REMEDIES--LIMITATIONS OF ACTION--EXCLUSIONS.--

A. A person that produces, publishes, reproduces,
displays, distributes or otherwise makes available digital
replicas in the state without the written consent of the
individual or the right holder is liable for damages. Each
display made, copy made, transmission and instance of an
unauthorized digital replica made available on an online
service is a violation of the provisions of the Voice and
Visual Likeness Rights Act.

B. To incur liability, a person that engaged in the
violation shall have actual knowledge that the material is a
digital replica and the digital replica was not authorized,
which may be obtained through a notification from the right
holder or individual, or shall willfully avoid having knowledge
that the material is an unauthorized digital replica.

C. Unless the digital replica is used to depict
sexually explicit conduct, a violation of the provisions of the
Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act does not occur if the:

(1) digital replica is produced or used in a
bona fide news, public affairs or sports broadcast or account;
provided that the digital replica is the subject of or is
relevant to the subject of the broadcast or account;

(2) digital replica is a representation of the
individual as the individual in a documentary or in a
historical or biographical manner, including some degree of
fictionalization, unless the production or use of the digital
replica creates the false impression that the work is an
authentic sound recording, image, transmission or audiovisual
work in which the individual participated or the digital
replica is embodied in a musical sound recording that is
synchronized to accompany a motion picture or other audiovisual
work;

(3) digital replica is produced or used
consistent with the public interest in a bona fide commentary,
criticism, scholarship, satire or parody;

(4) use of the digital replica is fleeting or
negligible; or

(5) digital replica is used in an
advertisement or commercial announcement for a purpose
enumerated in Paragraphs (1) through (4) of this subsection and
the digital replica is relevant to the subject of the work
being advertised or announced.

D. A person shall not be secondarily liable for a
violation of the provisions of the Voice and Visual Likeness
Rights Act for manufacturing, importing, offering to the
public, providing or otherwise distributing an unauthorized
digital replica in a product or service, unless the product or
service:

(1) is primarily designed to produce one or
more unauthorized digital replicas;

(2) has only limited commercially significant
purpose or use other than to produce an unauthorized digital
replica; or

(3) is marketed, advertised or otherwise
promoted by that person or another acting in concert with that
person with that person's knowledge for use in producing an
unauthorized digital replica.

E. An online service shall not be liable for
violating the provisions of the Voice and Visual Likeness
Rights Act if, upon receiving a notification of alleged
violation, the online service removes or disables access to the
material alleged to be an unauthorized digital replica as soon
as is practicable.

F. An online service shall not be liable for
violating the provisions of the Voice and Visual Likeness
Rights Act for storing third-party provided material that
resides on a system or network controlled or operated by or for
the online service if, upon receiving a notification of
violation, the online service removes or disables access to all
instances of the material claimed to be an unauthorized digital
replica as soon as is practicable for the online service and
takes reasonable steps to promptly notify the third party that
provided the material that the online service has removed or
disabled access to the material.

G. A civil action for a violation of the provisions
of the Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act may be brought by:

(1) a right holder;

(2) if the individual is a minor, a parent or
guardian of the individual;

(3) a person that controls, even by virtue of
a license, the right to authorize the use of the voice or
visual likeness of the individual;

(4) a person that owns or controls the right
to authorize the use of the voice or visual likeness of a
deceased person; or

(5) in the case of digital replica involving a
sound recording artist, a person that has directly or
indirectly entered into:

(a) a contract for the exclusive use of
the sound recording artist as a sound recording artist; or

(b) an exclusive license to distribute
or transmit one or more works that capture the audio
performance of the sound recording artist.

H. A civil action for private enforcement of the
provisions of the Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act may be
brought within three years after the date on which the party
bringing the civil action discovered or by exercise of
reasonable diligence should have discovered the violation.

I. It shall not be a defense that the defendant
displayed or otherwise communicated to the public a disclaimer
stating that the applicable digital replica was unauthorized or
disclosing that the digital replica was generated through the
use of artificial intelligence or other technology.

J. In a civil action brought pursuant to the Voice
and Visual Likeness Rights Act, a person that engages in
activity violating that act is liable to the injured party in
an amount equal to the greater of:

(1) in the case of an individual, five
thousand dollars ($5,000) per work embodying the unauthorized
digital replica;

(2) in the case of an online service, five
thousand dollars ($5,000) per violation;

(3) in the case of an entity that is not an
individual or an online service, twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000) per work embodying the unauthorized digital replica;
or

(4) actual damages suffered by the injured
party as a result of the activity, plus profits from the
unauthorized use attributable to that use and that are not
taken into account in computing the actual damages.

K. The plaintiff may seek injunctive or other
equitable relief.

L. In the case of willful activity in which the
injured party has proven that the defendant acted with malice,
fraud, knowledge or willful avoidance of knowledge that the
conduct violated the law, the court may award to the injured
party punitive damages; and if the prevailing party is the
party:

(1) bringing the court action, the court may
award reasonable attorney fees; or

(2) defending the court action, the court may
award reasonable attorney fees if the court determines that the
action was not brought in good faith.

M. An online service that has an objectively
reasonable belief that material claimed to be an unauthorized
digital replica does not qualify as a digital replica pursuant
to the Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act shall not be liable
for statutory or actual damages exceeding one million dollars
($1,000,000), regardless of whether the material is determined
to be an unauthorized digital replica.

N. In the event that the third party that provided
the material that the online service has removed or to which
the online service has disabled access files a lawsuit against
the sender of a notice of violation claiming that the notice
was false or deceptive, the online service may restore the
removed material to its network for access by members of the
public without monetary liability to either the notice sender
or the third party that provided the material that the online
service had removed or disabled access.

SECTION 8.
[
NEW MATERIAL
] RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.--The
Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act is a law pertaining to
intellectual property for the purposes of the federal
Communications Act of 1934.

SECTION 9.
SEVERABILITY.--If any part or application of
the Voice and Visual Likeness Rights Act is held invalid, the
remainder or its application to other situations or persons
shall not be affected.

SECTION 10.
EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the
provisions of this act is July 1, 2026.