Law and the Digital Reanimation of the Dead: A Regulatory Framework for the Afterlife Economy [Hardcover]

This book analyses the legal tensions that exist in the economy that purports to reanimate the dead using postmortem digital technologies.

Introduction: Reanimation and the Afterlife Economy

Chapter One: The Legal Dynamics of Death

Chapter Two: The Unprotectable Reputation

Chapter Three: The Partially Protected Persona

Chapter Four: The Insufficiently Protected Digital Persona

Chapter Five: Attenuated Talents Copyright and Moral Right Interests

Chapter Six: Ownership Issues in the Afterlife Economy

Chapter Seven: Full Alienability, Forced Commercialization, and Afterlife Career Management

Chapter Eight: Conclusion  What is a Fair Afterlife Economy?

This book analyzes the legal tensions that exist in the economy that purports to reanimate the dead using postmortem digital technologies.

Technological reanimation has proven to be big business, with many notable commercial entities investing in this afterlife economy . Postmortem technologies convincingly replicate the appearance, physiognomy, conversation styles, and thought patterns of a deceased individual by generating digital copies that act in their stead. In the entertainment industry, new works can be created with dead celebrities through a postmortem copy that is managed by their representatives. The result is an economy in which the dead are offered as a product or service to consumers, with some having their artistic legacies extended past death through an afterlife career . Many stakeholders stand to benefit from such a lucrative afterlife economy, but the law is simply not prepared for the issues that will arise with this explã4