We pursue claims under the Illinois Right of Publicity Act (IRPA) and related privacy statutes against tech companies, data brokers, and corporations that unlawfully commercialize your identity without consent. Whether a people-search directory uses your name and photograph to promote paid subscriptions, or an advertiser exploits your voice, likeness, or AI digital replica without written permission, we hold organizations accountable for profiting off your personal image. If your publicity rights have been violated, you may be entitled to significant statutory damages.
Illinois Right of Publicity Act (IRPA)
Every day, tech companies, data brokers, and online advertisers scrape, package, and monetize the identities of Illinois residents without their knowledge or consent. You do not need to be a famous actor, athlete, or influencer to have your publicity rights violated. When a corporation uses your name, photograph, voice, or likeness to advertise a product, sell a subscription, or generate corporate profits without your written permission, they are breaking Illinois law.
The Illinois Right of Publicity Act (IRPA), codified at 765 ILCS 1075/, is one of the strongest statutory privacy and publicity laws in the nation. We represent everyday Illinois residents in class action litigation against corporations that illegally commercialize consumer identities.
What is the Illinois Right of Publicity Act?
Enacted to replace outdated common law privacy torts, the Illinois Right of Publicity Act grants every individual the absolute right to control how their identity is used for commercial purposes. Under IRPA, a company cannot publicly use your identity without obtaining prior written consent from you (or your authorized agent).
The law defines protected identity elements broadly to prevent corporate loopholes. Under 765 ILCS 1075/5, your protected “identity” includes any attribute that identifies you to an ordinary, reasonable viewer or listener, including your:
- Actual Name or Assumed Name (including nicknames or professional monikers intended to identify you)
- Photograph or Facial Image (whether still or moving video)
- Likeness or Visual Representation
- Voice or Vocal Recording
- Signature
The 2025 AI & Digital Replica Amendment (HB 4875)
To address the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, Illinois significantly expanded IRPA under House Bill 4875. The law explicitly makes it illegal to produce, distribute, or make public unauthorized AI-generated digital replicas—defined as electronic representations of an individual’s voice, image, or likeness created using algorithms or generative AI where a reasonable person would believe the individual is being imitated. Companies that create deepfakes, voice clones, or synthetic avatars of real people for commercial ads without consent face severe statutory liability.
How Companies Are Violating Illinois Publicity Rights
In our tech-driven economy, corporate exploitation of personal identities has become systematic. Rather than paying for legitimate advertising or obtaining lawful releases, many companies rely on automated scraping and unauthorized data harvesting.
We actively investigate and litigate against corporations engaging in the following illegal practices:
1. People-Search Engines & Background Check Teasers
Data aggregators and people-search databases routinely scrape public records, social media profiles, and old yearbooks. They then build public “free preview” profiles displaying real Illinois residents’ names, age, relatives, and photographs. These profiles are used as marketing hooks: to see the full report, viewers are prompted to buy a paid monthly subscription. Using your identity as a free advertisement to sell a database subscription is a direct IRPA violation.
2. B2B Lead Generators & Business Intelligence Databases
It is not just consumer search engines breaking the law. Business-to-business (B2B) intelligence platforms scrape professional networking sites to harvest names, job titles, employment histories, and corporate headshots of Illinois professionals. Companies have faced class action litigation for using these professional identities in promotional materials and search teasers to sell paid B2B sales software.
3. AI Deepfakes and Unauthorized Synthetic Marketing
Marketing agencies and software developers are increasingly utilizing generative AI to clone voices and generate digital avatars. If a company feeds a customer’s voice recording or photograph into an AI tool to generate promotional material, digital ads, or synthetic voiceovers without explicit written consent, they violate both the traditional statute and the AI digital replica provisions.
4. Commercial Misappropriation in Testimonials and Ads
Retailers, software apps, and service providers sometimes lift customer reviews, social media photos, or user-generated content and repurpose them into paid Facebook, Instagram, or website advertisements. Even if you tagged a company in a photo or left a positive review, that does not grant them legal written consent to exploit your image as a commercial endorsement.
What Constitutes a “Commercial Purpose”?
To win an IRPA claim, the unauthorized use must be for a “commercial purpose”. Under Section 5 of the Act, a commercial purpose occurs when your identity is publicly displayed or held out:
- On or in connection with the offering for sale or sale of a product, merchandise, goods, or services;
- For purposes of advertising or promoting products, merchandise, goods, or services; or
- For the purpose of fundraising.
Note: The law contains narrow carve-outs for traditional news reporting, public affairs, sports broadcasts, and genuine artistic expression (like books or plays). However, commercial businesses selling paid software subscriptions, data reports, or consumer goods cannot hide behind the First Amendment when using real people as marketing collateral.
Statutory Damages and Compensation for Victims
One of the primary reasons IRPA is such a powerful tool for plaintiffs—and why class actions are so effective in this space—is its favorable damages structure. In traditional common law privacy lawsuits, plaintiffs often struggle to prove exact dollar losses or severe emotional distress. IRPA removes this hurdle entirely.
Under 765 ILCS 1075/40, a prevailing plaintiff is entitled to recover:
| Remedy Type | Statutory Provision |
| Statutory Damages | $1,000 per violation |
| Actual Damages & Profits | Actual loss OR defendant’s profits |
| Attorney’s Fees & Costs | Court discretion under § 55 |
| Punitive Damages | Available for willful violations |
| Injunctive Relief | Court-ordered removal |
Key Legal Interpretations: What You Need to Know
Illinois courts have interpreted IRPA in a way that heavily favors consumer protection and individual rights:
- You Do Not Need Commercial Value (Villalovos v. Sundance Assocs.): Federal and state courts have affirmed that you do not need to be a celebrity whose name has “intrinsic commercial value.” The statute explicitly protects both personal and commercial injuries for any natural person.
- Strict Statute of Limitations (Blair v. Nevada Landing Partnership): This is the most critical procedural rule for plaintiffs. Claims brought under the Illinois Right of Publicity Act are subject to a one-year statute of limitations. The clock generally starts ticking on the date the unauthorized advertisement or marketing material was first published or distributed. Because of this short one-year window, acting quickly is essential.
- Post-Mortem Protection: IRPA rights do not end at death. Section 30(b) protects an individual’s identity for 50 years after death, meaning surviving family members, estates, and heirs can sue companies that commercially exploit deceased loved ones (provided the death occurred after January 1, 1999).
- Copyright Does Not Block IRPA Claims (Toney v. L’Oreal USA): Companies often try to argue that federal copyright law overrides state publicity claims. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected this defense, holding that when a company uses a person’s likeness without authorization, federal copyright law does not shield them from Illinois right of publicity liability.
Why Pursue an IRPA Class Action?
When a company illegally scrapes a name or photo to sell a subscription, a single $1,000 statutory penalty might seem like the cost of doing business to a multi-million-dollar corporation.
However, when these companies scrape tens of thousands of Illinois residents at once, a class action lawsuit aggregates those violations.
Filing or joining a class action exposes corporate data harvesters to statutory exposure in the millions. It forces tech companies to respect individual consent, modify their data scraping algorithms, and pay substantial compensation to the people whose identities they sought to monetize for free.
Free Case Evaluation: Was Your Identity Used Without Consent?
If you live in Illinois and discovered your name, photograph, professional profile, or likeness being used in an online advertisement, a “free preview” background report, a software marketing campaign, or an AI-generated digital promotion without your written consent, your legal rights have been violated. Our litigation team investigates corporate privacy violations and fights for maximum statutory compensation on behalf of consumers.
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