I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10550 

To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to clarify the applicability of Federal 

trademark law in the area of digital replicas of identifying characteristics 

of individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 20, 2024 

Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. OBERNOLTE, and Mr. CLINE) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to clarify the applicability of Federal trademark law in the area of digital 

replicas of identifying characteristics of individuals, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Abuse of 

5 Digital Replicas Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL TRADEMARK LAW IN 

2 THE AREA OF DIGITAL REPLICAS OF IDENTI3 FYING CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUALS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 43 of the Trademark Act 

5 of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1125) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or de8 vice,’’ and inserting ‘‘device, or digital replica,’’; 

9 and 

10 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(4) In a civil action brought pursuant to paragraph 

12 (1)(A) for the use of a digital replica by a person on or 

13 in connection with any goods or services, or any container 

14 for goods there shall be a rebuttable presumption that 

15 such use is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, 

16 or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or associa17 tion of such person with another person, or as to the ori18 gin, sponsorship, or approval of his or her goods, services, 

19 or commercial activities by another person. 

20 ‘‘(5) A person shall not be liable in a civil action 

21 brought pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) for the use of a 

22 digital replica on or in connection with any goods or serv23 ices, or any container for goods if such use is— 

24 ‘‘(A) for bona fide news, public affairs, or 

25 sports broadcast or account, or any portion thereof; 


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1 ‘‘(B) for bona fide commentary, criticism, sat2 ire, or parody, or any portion thereof; 

3 ‘‘(C) for bona fide scholarship or educational 

4 purposes; 

5 ‘‘(D) a creative work, the character and pur6 pose of which is primarily expressive or artistic in 

7 nature rather than commercial, or any portion there8 of; 

9 ‘‘(E) otherwise protected by the First Amend10 ment to the Constitution of the United States; or 

11 ‘‘(F) any combination of the above. 

12 ‘‘(6) With the exception of relief sought under sec13 tions 32 and 43(c) of this Act, section 501 of title 17, 

14 and section 271 of title 35, a person may not seek relief 

15 under any other provision of Federal, State, local, or mu16 nicipal law for any use of a digital replica for which the 

17 person files a civil action asserting liability under this sec18 tion and relies upon the rebuttable presumption in para19 graph (4) in a pleading, dispositive motion, response to 

20 a dispositive motion, or at trial on the merits; and 

21 ‘‘(7) This subsection shall be considered a law per22 taining to intellectual property for the purposes of section 

23 230(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

24 230). 

25 ‘‘(8) In this subsection— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘digital replica’ means computer2 generated representation of an identifying char3 acteristic of a subject person, who at the time of the 

4 use of the representation is a living individual 

5 human being, where— 

6 ‘‘(i) the identifying characteristic is an 

7 image, voice, likeness, or other characteristic of 

8 the subject person, or a characteristic of the 

9 creative works of the subject person, that is dis10 tinctive to the subject person such that the use 

11 of such characteristic is likely to be associated 

12 with the subject person and no other person by 

13 reasonable and ordinary participants in the rel14 evant industry or market; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the representation is identical with, or 

16 substantially indistinguishable from, the actual 

17 identifying characteristic of the subject person 

18 from the perspective of reasonable and ordinary 

19 participants in the relevant industry or market; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(iii) based on the representation itself, it 

22 is apparent to reasonable and ordinary partici23 pants in the relevant industry or market that 

24 the purpose of the representation, in whole or 


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1 in part, was to duplicate the identifying char2 acteristic of the subject person; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the term ‘‘relevant industry or market’’ 

4 means the industry or market for the goods or serv5 ices that are the subject of the civil action brought 

6 pursuant to paragraph (1)(A).’’. 

7 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 

8 or the amendments made by this Act, may be construed 

9 so as to limit the scope of section 43 of the Trademark 

10 Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1125) as such section existed prior 

11 to the enactment of this Act. 

12 (c) APPLICATION.—This Act, and the amendments 

13 made by this Act, shall apply only to a civil action— 

14 (1) brought pursuant to section 43(a) of the 

15 Trademark Act of 1946 after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act; and 

17 (2) for the use of a digital replica on or in con18 nection with any goods or services, or any container 

19 for goods, after the date of the enactment of this 

20 Act. 

21 (d) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 

22 the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is 

23 held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application 

24 of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall 

25 not be affected thereby. 


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1 (e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Trade2 mark Act of 1946’’ means the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 

3 provide for the registration and protection of trademarks 

4 used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain 

5 international conventions, and for other purposes’’, ap6 proved July 5, 1946. 

Æ 


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