30-14-1714 . (Effective January 1, 2026) Property right in use of names, voices, and visual likenesses -- penalties for unauthorized use.
(1)An individual has property rights in their name, voice, and visual likeness, if the individual is:
(a)a resident of this state; or
(b)domiciled in this state at the time of their death.
(2)Whether or not an individual commercially benefits during their lifetime, their rights:
(a)are freely transferable, licensable, and descendible, in whole or in part;
(b)do not expire on the death of the individual to whom the right applies; and
(c)are exclusive to the individual to whom the right applies during their lifetime, subject to the transfer of rights as provided in subsection (2)(a), and to the rights holder's executors, heirs, transferees, or devis
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30-14-1714 . (Effective January 1, 2026) Property right in use of names, voices, and visual likenesses -- penalties for unauthorized use. (1) An individual has property rights in their name, voice, and visual likeness, if the individual is:
(a) a resident of this state; or
(b) domiciled in this state at the time of their death.
(2) Whether or not an individual commercially benefits during their lifetime, their rights:
(a) are freely transferable, licensable, and descendible, in whole or in part;
(b) do not expire on the death of the individual to whom the right applies; and
(c) are exclusive to the individual to whom the right applies during their lifetime, subject to the transfer of rights as provided in subsection (2)(a), and to the rights holder's executors, heirs, transferees, or devisees for a period of 20 years after the death of the individual.
(3) A person is liable for damages as set forth in subsection (4) if the person, without consent of the individual exercising the individual's property rights or the holder of the individual's property rights:
(a) distributes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to the public an algorithm, software, tool, or other technology, service, or device with actual and specific knowledge that the primary purpose of that algorithm, software, tool, or other technology, service, or device is to produce one or more unauthorized digital voice depictions or digital visual depictions of the particular, identified individual for commercial use; or
(b) intentionally publishes, performs, distributes, transmits, or makes available to the public a digital voice depiction or digital visual depiction for commercial use with actual and specific knowledge that the depiction is a digital voice depiction or digital visual depiction of the individual and that the depiction is not authorized by the individual or the holder of the individual's property rights.
(4) A person who violates subsection (3)(a) or (3)(b) is liable to the injured person for the actual damages suffered by the person, plus any profits from the unauthorized use of the individual's name, voice, or visual likeness.
(5) If a person who violated subsection (3)(b) had an objectively reasonable belief that material that is claimed to be an unauthorized digital voice depiction or digital visual depiction did not qualify as an unauthorized digital voice depiction or digital visual depiction, the person is not liable for actual damages regardless of whether the material is ultimately determined to be an unauthorized digital voice depiction or digital visual depiction.
(6) (a) In establishing profits under subsection (4), the injured party must be required only to present proof of the gross revenue being either directly or indirectly attributable to the unauthorized use.
(b) The person who violates this section must be required to prove the person's expenses are deductible from this violation.
(7) An action to enforce this section may be brought by:
(a) the individual whose name, voice, or visual likeness is at issue; or
(b) any person to which the individual has assigned, bequeathed, transferred, or exclusively licensed their name, voice, or visual likeness rights.
(8) To the extent the use is protected by the first amendment to the United States constitution and Article II, section 7, of the Montana constitution, it is not a violation if the use is:
(a) by a news-gathering organization;
(b) in connection with a news report, public affairs report, sports broadcast, or account;
(c) for the purposes of comment, criticism, scholarship, satire, or parody;
(d) a representation of an individual as themself in audiovisual works as defined in 17 U.S.C. 101, unless the work containing the use is intended to create, and does create, the false impression that the work is an authentic recording in which the individual participated;
(e) fleeting or negligible; or
(f) in an advertisement or commercial announcement for a work described in this subsection (8).
(9) No civil action may be maintained under the provisions of this section unless it is commenced within 4 years after the party seeking to bring the claim discovered, or should have reasonably discovered, the violation.
(10) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(a) "Broadband internet access service" means a mass-market retail service by wire or radio that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all internet endpoints. The term includes capabilities that are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications service. The term does not include dial-up internet access service.
(b) "Digital visual depiction" means a newly created, computer-generated, and highly realistic depiction made of the visual likeness of a particular individual that is created or altered in whole or in part using digital technology in a way that the depiction is nearly indistinguishable from an actual depiction of the particular individual. The depiction is such that a reasonable person believes the depiction is genuine and:
(i) it depicts the particular individual in a manner that the particular individual did not actually perform or appear; or,
(ii) if the particular individual did perform or appear, the depiction was materially altered from the fundamental character of the performance or appearance.
(c) "Digital voice depiction" means a newly created, computer-generated, and highly realistic audio rendering of a particular individual's voice that is created or altered in whole or in part using digital technology and is fixed in a sound recording or audiovisual work that is nearly indistinguishable from the particular individual's actual voice. The depiction is such that a reasonable person believes the depiction is genuine and:
(i) it depicts the particular individual in a manner that the particular individual did not actually perform; or
(ii) if the particular individual did perform, the fundamental character of the performance and the depiction were materially altered from the fundamental character of the performance or appearance.
(d) "Individual" means a natural person, living or dead, and includes the estate of an incompetent or deceased individual.
(e) "Person" means an individual, firm, association, partnership, corporation, joint stock company, syndicate, receiver, common law trust, conservator, statutory trust, or any other concern by whatever name known or however organized, formed, or created, and includes not-for-profit corporations, associations, educational and religious institutions, political parties, and community, civic, and other organizations.
(f) "Visual likeness" means an actual or simulated physical depiction or representation, digital depiction or representation, or other form of depiction or representation, regardless of the means of its creation, that is readily identifiable as an individual's face or other personal information displayed constituting readily identifiable characteristics of the individual.
(g) "Voice" means sounds in any medium containing the actual voice of an individual, whether recorded or generated by computer, artificial intelligence, algorithm, or other digital technology, service, or device, to the extent that the individual depicted or simulated is readily identifiable from the sound of the voice depicted or simulated, or from other personal information displayed constituting readily identifiable characteristics of the individual.
(11) This section does not apply to a provider of broadband internet access service.