What Are New York's Privacy Torts?

• Jurisdiction: New York,United States
• Law Firm: Romano Law
• Subject Matter: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Privacy, IT and Internet, Privacy Protection, Advertising, Marketing & Branding
• Author: Ms Olivia Loftin
• Published date: 13 April 2023

In New York, there are several ways to protect your name, image and likeness. New York's Civil Rights Laws ' 50 and 51 arm individuals with a cause of action to protect their identity from being used commercially without authorization. While these laws do not protect all possible right of privacy claims, the laws can offer relief in many instances.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT INVASION OF PRIVACY CLAIMS?

Under ' 50 and 51, there are four main types of privacy claims. These include the following:

• Intrusion upon seclusion - Intentionally intruding either physically or through electronic surveillance on another's private space.
• The public disclosure of private facts - Disclosing the private facts of a person's life that are not commonly known on public channels such as on a blog, website, comment or while speaking to others.
• Publicity that unreasonably places the other in a false light before the public - An assertion made to the public at large in a way that misleads the public to believe something is highly offensive.
• Misappropriation - Unauthorized appropriation of someone's name, photo, likeness or voice for financial gain.

Notably, New York only recognizes statutory rights of privacy and does not have a statutory right for claims of unreasonable publicity given to another's private life, unreasonable intrusion upon seclusion or publicity that unreasonably places another in a false light. Additionally, New York does not recognize common law privacy rights for any claims including invasion of privacy, intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of private facts or false light.

WHAT IS THE LAW IN NEW YORK?

According to N.Y. Civil Rights Law ' 50, it is a misdemeanor for someone to use "the name, portrait or picture of any living person" for commercial use without that person's written consent. New York Courts narrowed the scope of this statute such that it is applicable only to nonconsensual, commercial appropriations of a living person's likeness. For example, in Greene v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 138 F. Supp 3d 226 (E.D.N.Y. 2015), the plaintiff was involved in the real events that were depicted in the film The Wolf of Wall Street. The plaintiff claimed that a fictional character in the film resembled him, which was invasion of privacy. The court dismissed the claim because the film did not use the plaintiff's name, portrait or picture.

NY Civil Rights Law ' 50 additionally requires that the violation occur within New York state, regardless of where the...