Mills & Mills LLP
By Michael G. von Keitz
February 26th, 2026
IP Considerations in Estates— Posthumous rights and royalties can be planned around, but they cannot be preserved without continued judicial and legislative oversight of evolving questions as to their ethical use.
For those with intellectual property (“IP”) rights, it can be helpful to understand how those rights operate and how they are enforced. Income streams are often derived from licensed use of IP, through royalties, and where those income streams continue posthumously a well-considered estate plan is crucial.
Most typically, one might think of copyrights, patents, and trademarks when contemplating sources of royalties for IP. Another category is “personality rights”, or what are sometimes known as “rights of publicity”. Scarlett Johansson’s legal dispute with OpenAI over digital mimicry of her voice is a recent example of the latter.
These are not simple concerns. IP rights and royalties deriving from them are meeting with the counterwinds of the AI revolution.
In recent news, the Human Artistry Campaign’s “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” movement has seen an open letter circulate advocating for “ethical” collaborations between artists and AI developers. With over 800 signatories, including Scarlett Johansson, the underlying concerns expressed in the letter very much concern IP and the future of IP rights. The Campaign’s message is an important one, and the future of IP in an AI world is dependent on a continued dialogue.
