The Sovereign Ownership of Unique Likeness Act of 2026, or SOUL Act, amends Title 17 of the U.S. Code to establish new federal rights for U.S. citizens concerning their personal identity. This legislation aims to grant individuals sovereign ownership over their "unique likeness," protecting them from unauthorized digital replication and misuse. The bill broadly defines "unique likeness" to include an individual's name, image, physical appearance, voice, biometric identifiers, genetic markers, and digital replicas such as deepfakes . Owners are granted exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, publicly display, perform, or create derivative works based on their unique likeness, with these rights enduring for the individual's life plus 50 years after death. These rights apply to U.S. citizens and interstate commerce, vesting automatically, but include exemptions for non-commercial fair uses, government activities, and First Amendment protections. The Act provides civil remedies, allowing individuals to seek injunctive relief, takedown orders, and statutory damages up to $150,000 for willful violations, with platforms potentially liable for failing to remove unauthorized content after notice. This federal law preempts state laws on equivalent rights to ensure national uniformity.