Rights of Privacy vs. Rights of Publicity
A person’s right to privacy is an innate and inherent right. Alternatively, the right of publicity is something that is built up through the effort to create profitability through one’s name, image or likeness.
Rights of Privacy
Everyone has the right to protect their own individual privacy. This right starts at birth and does not need to be gained or created. It becomes more complicated to uphold and protect privacy if an individual is a public figure.
Right of privacy cover four different interests:
- APPROPRIATION or using a person’s name or likeness for another’s benefit without permission.
- INTRUSION or encroaching into a person’s physical solitude or seclusion.
- PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF PRIVATE FACTS: This public disclosure usually refers to the disclosure of private information, even though the information is true, in a way a reasonable person would find objectionable.
- FALSE LIGHT, including publicity of information that represents an individual in a false light.
Rights of Publicity
Rights of publicity afford a person the ability to monetize their image and personality. The biggest difference between the Right of Privacy and the Right of Publicity is the nature by which they are created and bestowed on an individual. Privacy is a right by birth, where as publicity is a right that is earned or created.
Rights of Publicity are divided into five categories:
- PERFORMANCE, or a person’s prerogative to exclusively perform services to earn money and bar anyone from doing so without permission.
- ADAPTATION describes one’s prerogative to share exclusive permission for others to profit off of the derivation of their image.
- PERSONALITY PRODUCTS, or the exploitation of products based on a person’s name or image. This includes posters, motion pictures, or any promotional materials.
- ENDORSEMENT refers to the use of a person’s name, likeness, or image to promote a product.
- REPUTATION refers to the right to protect one’s image against misuse or misrepresentation, even if otherwise allowed. This signifies the importance that an artist’s past performance and behavior has on their future work.
