Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

H-2167.1
                                 HOUSE BILL 2032
     State of Washington         67th Legislature     2022 Regular Session
     By Representatives Wicks, Berry, Sells, Senn, and Eslick
     Read first time 01/18/22.    Referred to Committee on Civil Rights &
     Judiciary.
      AN ACT Relating to protecting the interests of minor children
  featured on for-profit family vlogs; amending RCW 63.60.020 and
  63.60.040; adding new sections to chapter 63.60 RCW; and creating a
  new section.
  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 1.   (1) The legislature finds that social
 media influencers can make significant amounts of money from the
 digital content they produce. Some influencers use their minor
 children as subjects of that content. Those children are generating
 interest in and revenue for the content, but receive no financial
 compensation for their participation. Unlike in child acting, these
 children are not playing a part, and lack legal protections.
     (2) The legislature finds that social media influencers who
 market video content of their families, or "vloggers" can profit from
 the personal property rights of their children without restriction.
 Some children are filmed, with highly personal details of their lives
 shared on the internet for compensation, from birth. In addition to a
 severe loss of privacy, these children receive no consideration for
 the use and exchange of their personal property rights.
     (3) The legislature intends to allow minors to receive
 proportional compensation for the use of specified personal property
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 rights where their    parents have reached a specified profit threshold
 from that use. The    legislature also intends to provide for minors to
 exercise control      over specified personal property rights upon
 reaching the age of   majority.
     Sec. 2. RCW 63.60.020 and 2008 c 62 s 2 are each amended to read
 as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in
 this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Age of majority" has the same meaning as provided in RCW
 26.28.010.
     (2) "Deceased individual" means any individual, regardless of the
 individual's place of domicile, residence, or citizenship at the time
 of death or otherwise, who has died within ten years before January
 1, 1998, or thereafter.
     (((2)))   (3)  "Deceased   personality"   means  any   individual,
 regardless of the personality's place of domicile, residence, or
 citizenship at the time of death or otherwise, whose name, voice,
 signature, photograph, or likeness had commercial value at the time
 of his or her death, whether or not during the lifetime of that
 individual he or she used his or her name, voice, signature,
 photograph, or likeness on or in products, merchandise or goods, or
 for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting the purchase or
 sale of, products, merchandise, goods, or services. A "deceased
 personality" includes, without limitation, any such individual who
 has died within fifty years before January 1, 1998, or thereafter.
     (((3))) (4) "Fund-raising" means an organized activity to solicit
 donations of money or other goods or services from persons or
 entities by an organization, company, or public entity. A fund-
 raising activity does not include a live, public performance by an
 individual or group of individuals for which money is received in
 solicited or unsolicited gratuities.
     (((4))) (5) "Individual" means a natural person, living or dead.
     (((5))) (6) "Likeness" means an image, painting, sketching,
 model, diagram, or other clear representation, other than a
 photograph, of an individual's face, body, or parts thereof, or the
 distinctive appearance, gestures, or mannerisms of an individual.
     (((6))) (7) "Minor" means a person under the age of 18 whose
 principal place of residence is in the state of Washington.
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     (8) "Name" means the actual or assumed name, or nickname, of a
 living or deceased individual that is intended to identify that
 individual.
     (((7))) (9) "Person" means any natural person, 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, or
 other organizations.
     (((8))) (10) "Personality" means any individual whose name,
 voice, signature, photograph, or likeness has commercial value,
 whether or not that individual uses his or her name, voice,
 signature, photograph, or likeness on or in products, merchandise, or
 goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or solicitation of
 purchase of, products, merchandise, goods, or services.
     (((9))) (11) "Photograph" means any photograph or photographic
 reproduction, still or moving, or any videotape, online or live
 television transmission, of any individual, so that the individual is
 readily identifiable.
     (((10))) (12) "Signature" means the one handwritten or otherwise
 legally binding form of an individual's name, written or authorized
 by that individual, that distinguishes the individual from all
 others.
     (13) "Vlogger" means an individual or family that creates video
 content   in    exchange   for   compensation,   and   includes   any
 proprietorship, partnership, company, or other corporate entity
 assuming the name or identity of a particular individual or family
 for purposes of that content creation.
     NEW SECTION.   Sec. 3.   A new section is added to chapter 63.60
 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A vlogger meeting the criteria under subsection (2) of this
 section must compensate the vlogger's minor child whose likeness,
 name, or photograph constitutes the video content meeting the
 criteria in subsection (2)(a) of this section, in accordance with
 subsection (3) of this section.
     (2) This section applies to a vlogger meeting the following
 criteria at any time within the previous 12-month period:
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     (a)(i) The number of views received per video segment on any
 internet platform or network met the platform or network's threshold
 for generation of compensation; or
     (ii) The vlogger received actual compensation for video content
 equal to or greater than $0.10 per view; and
     (b) At least 30 percent of the vlogger's compensated video
 content produced within a 30-day period included the likeness, name,
 or photograph of the vlogger's minor child. Content percentage is
 measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph
 of the vlogger's minor child visually appears or is the subject of an
 oral narrative in a video segment, as compared to the total length of
 the segment.
     (3) A vlogger meeting the criteria in subsection (2) of this
 section must set aside gross earnings on the video content including
 the likeness, name, or photograph of the vlogger's minor child in a
 trust, to be preserved for the benefit of the minor upon reaching the
 age of majority, according to the following distribution:
     (a) Where only one minor child meets the content threshold
 described in subsection (2)(b) of this section, the percentage of
 total gross earnings on any video segment including the likeness,
 name, or photograph of the vlogger's minor child that is equal to or
 greater than the content percentage that includes the minor child as
 described in subsection (2) of this section; or
     (b) Where more than one minor child meets the content threshold
 described in subsection (2)(b) of this section and a video segment
 includes more than one of those children, the additive percentage
 described in (a) of this subsection for all minor children in any
 segment must be equally divided between the children, regardless of
 differences in percentage of content provided by the individual
 children.
     NEW SECTION.   Sec. 4.   A new section is added to chapter 63.60
 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Upon the age of majority, any individual to whom as a minor
 child section 3 of this act previously applied may request the
 permanent deletion of any video segment including the likeness, name,
 or photograph of the individual from any internet platform or network
 that provided compensation to the individual's parent or parents in
 exchange for that video content.
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      (2) An internet platform or network must take all reasonable
  steps to permanently delete the video segment for which a request
  described in subsection (1) of this section has been made.
      (3) Any contract with an internet platform or network for the
  exchange or use of video content that would reasonably be anticipated
  to include greater than a de minimis use of a vlogger's minor child
  must include notification to the internet platform or network of the
  minor child's future rights as provided in this section.
     Sec. 5. RCW 63.60.040 and 2004 c 71 s 2 are each amended to read
 as follows:
     (1) For individuals, except to the extent that the individual may
 have assigned or licensed such rights, the rights protected in this
 chapter are exclusive to the individual, subject to the assignment or
 licensing of such rights, during such individual's lifetime and are
 exclusive to the persons entitled to such rights under RCW 63.60.030
 for a period of ten years after the death of the individual except to
 the extent that the persons entitled to such rights under RCW
 63.60.030 may have assigned or licensed such rights to others.
     (2) For personalities, except to the extent that the personality
 may have assigned or licensed such rights, the rights protected in
 this chapter are exclusive to the personality, subject to the
 assignment or licensing of such rights, during such personality's
 lifetime and to the persons entitled to such rights under RCW
 63.60.030 for a period of seventy-five years after the death of the
 personality except to the extent that the persons entitled to such
 rights under RCW 63.60.030 may have assigned or licensed such rights
 to others.
     (3) The rights granted in this chapter may be exercised by a
 personal representative, attorney-in-fact, parent of a minor child
 except as limited in section 3 of this act, or guardian, or as
 authorized by a court of competent jurisdiction. The terms "personal
 representative," "attorney-in-fact," and "guardian" shall have the
 same meanings in this chapter as they have in Title 11 RCW.
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Statutes affected: 
Original Bill: 63.60.020, 63.60.040