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Torts • Invasion of Privacy
TORT#104
Legal Definition
Appropriation is the unauthorized use of a plaintiff's picture or name for the defendant's commercial advantage.
Plain English Explanation
There's nothing stopping you from going to the park and taking a photo of a stranger. There's nothing stopping you from taking that photo home and printing it out. And there's nothing stopping you from sharing that photo on your blog. You own the photo. It is your intellectual property. However, you can't use a stranger to try to sell something without their permission. In other words, appropriation is a type of false endorsement. It is associating a specific person with your product or services for the purpose of selling your product or services.
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: Bob is excited about his new modeling career. He takes a bunch of photos of himself and uploads them to a modeling website. Sam finds one of Bob's smiling photos and licenses it in order to advertise his new toothpaste. Bob later finds out and is furious, because he hates Sam and never wanted to be associated with his business. Result: This is not appropriation, this is just how the marketing world works. Generally, when you license a photo, you are allowed to use it for commercial reasons. A model generally doesn't get to approve every use of every image for every product that licenses their photo.
Related Concepts
In assessing invasion of privacy, what is false light?
In assessing invasion of privacy, what is intrusion upon seclusion?
In assessing invasion of privacy, what is public disclosure of private fact (PDPF)?
In assessing invasion of privacy, when may a court impose punishment on the press for a publication?
What 4 torts are fall under invasion of privacy?
