The right of publicity lets a person control the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, voice, and other recognizable markers of identity, and stop others from cashing in without consent. It is overwhelmingly a matter of state law, so its scope, duration, and even its name change at every border; more than thirty states recognize it by statute, common law, or both. This article traces the doctrine from Haelan Laboratories and the Supreme Court's lone right-of-publicity decision in Zacchini through the voice-and-persona cases (Midler, Waits, and White), then maps the defenses that most often defeat these claims: statutory exemptions, the First Amendment and the transformative-use test, copyright preemption under Section 301, and the Section 230 platform question. It explains who holds the right, how postmortem rights turn on domicile and registration, how remedies and proof work, and how a new wave of AI legislation, including Tennessee's ELVIS Act and the proposed federal NO FAKES Act, is rebuilding the doctrine around voice cloning and digital replicas. Worked hypotheticals, a licensing playbook, and an FAQ make the law usable for celebrities, businesses, and ordinary people. It is educational and not a substitute for advice from qualified counsel.