Prosser's privacy and the german right of personality: Are four privacy torts better than one unitary concept?

California Law Review

Volumn 98, Issue 6, 2010, Pages 1925-1987

  Schwartz, Paul M ^a,b   Peifer, Karl Nikolaus ^a,b  

^a Berkeley Center for Law and Technology Law ^*  (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE   (Germany)

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EID: 79953846661     PISSN: 00081221     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (382)

1. William L. Prosser, Privacy, 48 CALIF. L. REv. 383, 383 (1960). For the seminal article by Warren and Brandeis.
2. see Samuel D. Warren & Louis D. Brandeis, The Right to Privacy, 4 HARv. L. REv. 193 (1890).
3. See infra Part III.
4. For a discussion of how this concept of individual self-determination marks a basic normative concept of the modem Western world, see CHARLES TAYLOR, THE MALAISE OF MODERNITY 27-28 (House of Anansi Press Inc. 2003) (1991).
5. Bonome v. Kaysen, No. 032767, 2004 WL 1194731, at *1 (Mass. Dist. Ct. Mar. 3, 2004).
6. Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 101 (Ger.) = 61 NJW 39, at para. 101 (2008) (Ger.) = 39 HC 606, at para. 101 (2008) (English translation by D.W. We cite from this translation. The decision is partially divided into paragraphs and partially not. We cite from paragraphs where given; otherwise we cite pages of the English translation in 2008 HC 606).
7. Id. at para. 104.
8. Prosser, supra note 1, at 422.
9. See infra note 119 and accompanying text.
10. Warren & Brandeis, supra note 1;
11. Edward J. Bloustein, Privacy as an Aspect of Human Dignity: An Answer to Dean Prosser, 39 N.Y.U. L. REv. 962 (1964).
12. Bundesgerichtshof [BGH] [Federal Supreme Court], BGHZ 13,334, 338.
13. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 24, 72,78.
14. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 7, 198, 204. For a discussion, see infra Part ILD.
15. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 7,1, at para. 70. For a discussion, see infra Part II.F.2.
16. Id.
17. Lior Strahilevitz, Reunifying Privacy Law, 98 CALIF. L. REv. 2007, 2037 (2010).
18. Neil M. Richards & Daniel J. Solove, Prosser's Privacy Law: A Mixed Legacy, 98 CALIF. L. REv. 1887(2010).
19. WILLIAM PROSSER, HANDBOOK OF THE LAW OF TORTS, at xii (3d ed. 1964).
20. Bonome v. Kaysen, No. 032767, 2004 WL 1194731, at *1 (Mass. Dist. Ct. Mar. 3, 2004).
21. Id.
22. Id.
23. Id. at *2.
24. As the trial court observes, a central theme of the book is "the impact of her chronic pain on the emotional and physical relationship with Kaysen's boyfriend." Id. at *2.
25. Id.
26. Id.
27. Id. at *1-2, *7.
28. Id. at *1.
29. Id. at *3.
30. Id. at *2, *7.
31. Id.
32. Id. at *2.
33. Id.
34. Id. at*4.
35. Id.
36. Id. at *6.
37. Id. at *6-7.
38. Id.
39. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 85 = 39 HC 606, at para. 85 (2008).
40. Id. at para. 70.
41. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 59 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 59 (2008).
42. Id. at para. 107.
43. MAXIM BILLER, ESRA (2003).
44. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 90 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 90 (2008).
45. Id. at para. 85.
46. Id. at para. 71.
47. See, e.g., David Hugendick, Kein Augenmaß, ZEIT ONLINE, Feb. 13, 2008, http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/07/esra-urteil.
48. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119,1,2 = 39 DC 606,607 (2008).
49. For an introduction to this concept, see Edward J. Eberle, Human Dignity, Privacy, and Personality in German and American Constitutional Law, 1997 UTAH L. REv. 963 (1997);
50. KARL- NlKOLAUS PEIFER, INDIVIDUALITÄT IM ZIVILRECHT 137-40 (2001).
51. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 70 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 70 (2008).
52. Federal Supreme Court: BGHZ 13, 334, 338 (1954) (protecting against false light situations);
53. BGHZ 24, 72, 78 (1957) (protecting against disclosure of medical records);
54. BGHZ 26, 349, 354 - "Gentleman rider" case (1958) (protecting against unauthorized appropriation of personal attributes in advertising);
55. BGHZ 45, 296, 307 (1966) (protecting against mass media publication of erroneous facts);
56. BGHZ 50, 133, 143 - Mephisto (1968) (protecting against roman à clef with misleading interpretation of biographical facts);
57. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 35, 202, 220 = 26 NJW 1226 (1973) (protecting against public disclosure of private facts with regard to criminal past, right to rehabilitation);
58. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 131, 332, 337 = 49 NJW 1128, 1129 - Caroline von Monaco III (1996) (protecting celebrity against paparazzi).
59. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 71 = 39 HC 606, at para. 71 (2008).
60. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, 2 = 39 HC 606,607 (2008).
61. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1,4 = 39 HC 606, 607 (2008).
62. Id.
63. Federal Constitutional Court, 39 IIC 606 at para. 75 (2008).
64. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119,1, 3 = 39 IIC 606, 607 (2008).
65. Id. at para. 95.
66. Federal Constitutional Court, 39 IIC 606,610 (2008).
67. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 75 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 75 (2008).
68. Id. In the United States, Lior Strahilevitz has drawn on the way information is known or unknown within groups to develop a "social networks theory" of privacy.
69. Lior Strahilevitz, A Social Networks Theory of Privacy, 72 U. CHI. L. REv. 919 (2005).
70. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 74 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 74 (2008).
71. Id. at para. 76.
72. Id.
73. Federal Constitutional Court, 39 IIC 606,607 (2008).
74. The novel's sense of verisimilitude is heightened by its tracking of events through detailed and precise use of street names in Munich, where it takes place.
75. Indeed, the lack of significant redaction of details in some judicial opinions also demonstrates that the use of pseudonyms in German cases does not primarily seek to protect the privacy, at least not in the sense of anonymity, of litigants. Thus, the German Federal Constitutional Court not only stated that the copy of the novel that "B." gave to his girlfriend was signed "Maxim," but included the full text of the somewhat personal dedication handwritten in it. BVerfGE 119,1, 3 = 39 IIC 606, 607 (2008).
76. These issues are also present in the approach in German law to the broadcast of court proceedings. The applicable statute forbids "audio and visual recordings" of court proceedings for "public display purposes." Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz [GVG] [Code on Court Constitution], Mai 9, 1975, BGBL I 1077, §169.
77. For a general discussion of the interests that restrict "limitless" access of "the public" to judicial proceedings, see Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 103, 44, 64 = 54 NJW 1633, 1635 (2001).
78. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 107 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 107 (2008).
79. Id. at para. 88.
80. Id. at para. 105.
81. Id. at para. 101.
82. Id. at para. 72.
83. Id. at para. 103.
84. In the judgment of the Court, this aspect of the novel "has no place in the public eye." Id. at para. 103.
85. Id. at para. 88.
86. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 30,173 = 24 NJW 1645 - Mephisto (1971).
87. Id.
88. Id. at para. 102.
89. Id.
90. Id.
91. Id. at para. 88.
92. Federal Constitutional Court, 62 NJW 3089, 3090 (2009).
93. Karl-Nikolaus Peifer, Verbote und Gebote - Tabus in den Medien, in SKURRILITÄT UND TABUS IN DEN MEDIEN, 93, 104 (Sonja Ganguin & Uwe Sander eds., 2006);
94. MARION BASTONVOGT, DER SACHLICHE SCHUTZBEREICH DES ALLGEMEINEN PERSÖNLICHKEITSRECHTS 32 (1997).
95. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 92 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 92 (2008).
96. Id. at para. 96.
97. See infra Part II.F.2.
98. Richards & Solove, supra note 16, at 1898.
99. Id.
100. (citing WILLIAM PROSSER, SELECTED TOPICS ON THE LAW OF TORTS (1954)).
101. Id.
102. (citing WILLIAM PROSSER, HANDBOOK OF THE LAW OF TORTS (2d ed. 1955)).
103. William Prosser, Das Recht auf die Privatsphäre in Amerika, 21 RABELSZ 401 (1956).
104. For another Prosser article in German, see WILLIAM L. PROSSER, KAUSALZUSAMMENHANG UND FAHRLÄSSIGKEIT (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Vol. 74, 1957).
105. G. EDWARD WHITE, TORT LAW IN AMERICA 158-61 (1980).
106. Thus, the Prosser categories provide the organizing principle for discussion of privacy, whether in a treatise or casebook. See, e.g., DANIEL J. SOLOVE & PAUL M. SCHWARTZ, INFORMATION PRIVACY LAW 78-231 (3d ed. 2008);
107. J. THOMAS MCCARTHY, 1 THE RIGHTS OF PUBLICITY AND PRIVACY 538-788 (2d ed. 2009);
108. RICHARD A. EPSTEIN, CASES AND MATERIALS ON TORTS 1131-96 (9th ed. 2008).
109. Prosser, supra note 1, at 388.
110. See id. at 383 n.3, 384 nn.6-7, 385 nn.13-14, 387 n.50, 388 n.52, 391 n.81, 398 n.129, 403 n.166, 407 n.194, 415 n.264 (citing privacy law review articles).
111. Prosser, supra note 1, at 389.
112. Id.
113. Id. at 422.
114. Id. at 389.
115. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§652B-652E (1977).
116. SAMUEL H. HOFSTADTER, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RIGHT OF PRIVACY IN NEW YORK 53 (1954).
117. Id.
118. See MCCARTHY, supra note 90, at 31-32 (noting that Prosser's article has been "immensely influential").
119. DANIEL J. SOLOVE, UNDERSTANDING PRIVACY 9 (2008). By Solove's count, there are four kinds of harm to a data subject: (1) information collection; (2) information processing; (3) information dissemination; and (4) invasion. Each of these groups then leads in turn to "different related subgroups of harmful activities."
120. Id. at 103. To give a final example of Solove's taxonomie work, he identifies two forms of information collection, which are (1) surveillance, and (2) interrogation.
121. Id. at 104.
122. See id. at 44 ("Wittgenstein's notion of family resemblances frees us from engaging in the debate over necessary and sufficient conditions for privacy, from searching for rigid conceptual boundaries and common denominators. If we no longer look for the essence of privacy, then ... we should focus more concretely on the various forms of privacy and recognize their similarities and differences.").
123. Danielle Keats Citron & Leslie Meltzer Henry, Visionary Pragmatbm and the Value of Privacy in the Twenty-First Century, 108 MICH. L. REv. 1107, 1111 (2010).
124. Id.
125. (citing Solove, supra note 101, at 49).
126. Prosser, supra note 1, at 391, 396.
127. For a discussion of the requirement regarding harm to the esteem in which one is held in the community, see DAN B. DOBBS, THE LAW OF TORTS 1126-27 (2000).
128. Prosser, supra note 1, at 397.
129. Id. at 400.
130. Id.
131. Id at 401.
132. Id. at 406.
133. Id.
134. Id.
135. Id. at 407.
136. The case is Haelan Labs., Inc. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 202 F.2d 866 (2d Cir. 1953).
137. See infra Part IIIA.
138. Warren & Brandeis, supra note 1, at 213.
139. WHITE, supra note 89, at 158-61.
140. Id. at 161.
141. Prosser, supra note 1, at 398.
142. Id. at 389.
143. Id. at 373 (referring to BVerfGE 34, 238, 245).
144. Bonome v. Kaysen, No. 032767,2004 WL 1194731, at *1, *6-7 (Mass. Dist. Ct. Mar. 3, 2004).
145. Id. at *5-7.
146. Id.
147. Id. at *7.
148. Id.
149. Id.
150. Id. at *5-7.
151. Here, unlike in most of its opinion, the Esra court did not follow the lower courts, including the Federal Supreme Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 96 = 39 IIC 606, at para. 96 (2008).
152. Federal Constitutional Court, 39 IIC 608, at para. 96 (2008).
153. Id. at para. 120.
154. We would join the dissent in this regard because we are not convinced that a reader would find noticeable distinctions between these aspects of the artistic treatment of Laie and Esra. We would also dissent on another ground: we are not convinced that such artistic distancing would, in turn, lead all hypothetic literate readers to a shared judgment about the different levels of harm from the novel to the real-life models of these characters, Esra and Lale.
155. Id. at para. 79.
156. Federal Supreme Court, 63 NJW 763, at para. 13 (2010).
157. Id. For a discussion of this opinion in the press, see Streit um "Esra-Roman ": Maxim Biller muss keine Entschädigung zahlen, ZEIT ONLINE, NOV. 11, 2009, http://www.zeit.de/kultur/literatur/2009-11/esra-maxim- biller-entschaedigung.
158. On law as creating a cosmology, see LAWRENCE ROSEN, LAW AS CULTURE 11 (2006).
159. BEVERLEY-SMITH ET AL., supra note 129, at 207.
160. Tom Gerety, Redefining Privacy, 12 HARV. C.R.-C.L. L. REV. 233, 234 (1977).
161. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §652C, cmt. a (1977).
162. McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 9-11 ;
163. SOLOVE & SCHWARTZ, supra note 90, at 205-08.
164. Prosser, supra note 1, at 406-07. For the foundational scholarly exposition of this right, see Melville B. Nimmer, The Right of Publicity, 19 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 203 (1954). Preceding Nimmer's account was a short student note,
165. Joseph R. Grodin, Note, The Right of Publicity: A Doctrinal Innovation, 62 YALE L.J. 1123, 1123-30 (1953). Grodin accurately predicted that "the right of publicity may be extended beyond advertising cases."
166. Id. at 1128. For the breakthrough case,
167. see Haelan Labs., Inc. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., 202 F. 2d 866, 868 (2d Cir. 1953).
168. See also McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 9 ("The right of publicity is the right of a person to control the commercial use of his or her identity.").
169. Jim Henson Prods., Inc. v. John T. Brady & Assoc, Inc., 867 F. Supp. 175, 188-89 (S.D.N. Y. 1994).
170. See McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 543 ([T]he right of publicity is infringed by an injury to the pocketbook" and not "by an injury to the psyche."). On the property-like nature of this interest,
171. see McCARTHY, supra note 90 at 480;
172. Jim Henson Prods., 867 F. Supp. at 188-89.
173. But see Alice Haemmerli, Whose Who?: The Case for a Kantian Right of Publicity, 49 DUKE L.J. 383, 414-17 (1999) (developing a Kantian-based personhood theory of a right of publicity with elements in autonomy as well as property).
174. See Prosser, supra note 1, at 423 (The right of appropriation "create[s] in effect, for every individual, a common law trade name, his own, and a common law trade mark in his likeness.").
175. For a selection of cases, see SOLOVE & SCHWARTZ, supra note 90, at 205-31. For the "Here's Johnny" case,
176. see Carson v. Here's Johnny Portable Toilets, Inc., 698 F.2d 831 (6th Cir. 1983). For "sound-alike" cases,
177. see Waits v. Frito-Lay, Inc., 978 F.2d 1093 (9th Cir. 1992)
178. and Midler v. Ford Motor Co., 849 F.2d 460 (9th Cir. 1988).
179. For the protection of a distinctive racing car, see Motschenbacher v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 498 F.2d 821 (9th Cir. 1974). There is also a case identifying a right against "look-alike" models.
180. See Onassis v. Christian Dior-N.Y., Inc., 472 N.Y.S.2d 254 (N.Y. App. Div. 1984).
181. McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 420-21.
182. Id. at 395.
183. See, e.g., Herman Miller, Inc. v. Palazzetti Imports & Exports, Inc., 270 F.3d 298 (6th Cir. 2001);
184. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) TORTS §6521 (1977) ("Except for the appropriation of one's name or likeness, an action for invasion of privacy can be maintained only by a living individual whose privacy is invaded.").
185. The Supreme Court provides the leading discussion of this privacy interest of family members. Nat'l Archives & Records Admin, v. Favish, 541 U.S. 157 (2004). For a Supreme Court case finding that a family member, the father of a deceased party, had a privacy interest implicated by release of information about the decedent,
186. see Cox Broad. Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975).
187. See also Catsouras v. Dep't of the Cal. Highway Patrol, 104 Cal. Rptr. 3d 352 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010);
188. Melton v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'r, 267 F. Supp. 2d 859 (S.D. Ohio 2003);
189. Sellers v. Henry, 329 S.W.2d. 214 (Ky. 1959);
190. Douglas v. Stokes, 149 S.W. 849 (Ky. 1912). For a discussion of this interest of the relatives of deceased person,
191. see McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 399-401.
192. McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 435-37.
193. Id. at 445-46.
194. TENN. CODE ANN. §47-25-1104(b). The statute provides a fixed initial ten-year postmortem term with extension possible so long as there is commercial exploitation of the interest. For a discussion,
195. see McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 1103-04.
196. For a description of the company, see Profile: CKX, Inc., Reuters, available at http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=CKXE.O (on file with California Law Review). The company also has rights to the management of Graceland, Elvis's former home.
197. Id.
198. Brian Stelter & Michael J. de la Merced, Company that Owns "American Idol" b Planning a Sale to a Private Equity Group, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 29, 2010, at B8, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/ business/media/30idol.html.
199. Joe Flint, CKX to Potential Buyers: Either Step Up, or We Move On, COMPANY TOWN, L.A. TIMES (Aug. 16, 2010, 12:05 PM), http://latimesblogs.latimes. com/entertainment newsbuzz/2010/08/ckx-to-potential-buyers-either-step-up-or-we- move-on.html.
200. CKX, Inc. Reports Second Quarter and Six Month 2010 Results (Aug. 13, 2010), http://ir.ckx.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=499251.
201. Jordana Lewis, Long Dead Celebrities Can Now Breathe Easier, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 24, 2007, at E4.
202. Ethan Smith, Sony Places Big Bet on a Fallen 'King, ' WALL ST. J., March 16, 2010, at Al, available at http://online.wsj.com/article/ SB1000142405274870458840457512402386073 5864.html.
203. Federal Supreme Court, 53 NJW 2201 (2000). In a similar fashion, American law protects publicity rights in a person's distinctive "performing persona."
204. See McCARTHY, supra note 90, at 336;
205. see, e.g., Wendt v. Host Infi, Inc., 125 F.3d 806, 812 (9th Cir. 1997);
206. Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, 603 P.2d 425 (Cal. 1979).
207. Federal Supreme Court, 53 NJW 2201 (2000).
208. Reichsgericht, RGZ 45, 170, 173 - Bismarck (1899). In this case, the court forbid publication of the photographs on the ground that it would not permit the journalists to profit from an illegal entry into the Bismarck Villa.
209. See, e.g., Federal Supreme Court, 60 NJW 684, 685 - kinski-klaus.de (2007).
210. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 128,1,15 = 53 NJW 2195, 2197 (2000).
211. Id.
212. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 128,1,15 = 53 NJW 2195,2197 (2000).
213. Id.
214. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 30, 173, para. 66. In another intersection of the Mann family saga with the right of personality, The Blue Angel, the film from which the personality right at issue in the Dietrich case derived, was based on a novel written by Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann's elder brother. See HEINRICH MANN, PROFESSOR UNRAT (1905)
215. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 107,385 - Nolde.
216. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 128,1,15 = 53 NJW 2195,2197 (2000).
217. Federal Supreme Court, 53 NJW 2201 (2000).
218. Federal Supreme Court, 60 NJW 684 - kinski-klaus.de (2007).
219. Id. at 685.
220. Id.
221. Id. For the statute, see Kunsturhebergesetz §22(3) [KUG] [Act on the Protection of the Copyright in Works of Art and Photographs], Jan. 9, 1907, BGBl. III/fna 440-3.
222. Federal Supreme Court, 60 NJW 684, 685 - kinski-klaus.de (2007).
223. Endress Wanckel, Comment, 60 NJW 686 (2007).
224. Id.
225. Dorothy Pomerantz, A Star Is Reborn: How Hollywood Magicians Will Rabe The Dead, FORBES, Mar. 15, 2010, at 70, available at http://www.forbes.com/ forbes/2010/0315/ entertainment-hollywood-cameron-movies-star-reborn-3.html.
226. Licensing, Endorsement, and Sponsorship, ELVIS PRESLEY: THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE KING OF ROCK 'N' ROLL, http://www.elvis.com/licensing/list/default.asp? 1etter=* (last visited Sept. 10, 2010).
227. Pomerantz, supra note 294.
228. Federal Supreme Court, 60 NJW 684, 685 (2007).
229. White v. Samsung Elec. Am., Inc., 989 F.2d 1512, 1513 (9th Cir. 1993) (Kozinski, J., dissenting).
230. Michael Madow, Private Ownership of Public Image: Popular Culture and Publicity Rights, 81 CALIF. L. REV. 127, 145 (1993).
231. see ROSEMARY J. COOMBE, THE CULTURAL LIFE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES 94-95 (1998)) (explaining that a star image is a shared creation that is not the product alone of the celebrity herself). But for a defense of the right of publicity as protecting celebrities against corporations,
232. see Sheldon W. Halpern, The Right of Publicity: Maturation of an Independent Right Protecting the Associative Value of Personality, 46 HASTINGS L.J. 853, 873 (1995).
233. Madow, supra note 299, at 147.
234. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 169, 340 - Rücktritt des Finanzministers = 109 GRUR 139 (2007).
235. Federal Supreme Court, 49 NJW 593, 595 - Abschiedsmedaille (1996).
236. Winter v. DC Comics, 69 P.3d 473 (Cal. 2003);
237. Comedy III Prods., Inc. v. Gary Saderup, Inc., 21 P.3d 797, 808 (Cal. 2001).
238. Cardtoons v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n, 95 F.3d 959, 971 (10th Cir. 1996).
239. Id.
240. Id.
241. Haelan Labs., Inc. v. Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. 202 F.2d 866, 868 (2d Cir. 1953). Decisions before Haelan had also recognized these kind of interests. Thus, in 1941, Louis Nizer had talked about "the frequently recurring case which grants relief where privacy has been violated by a spurious endorsement of merchandise."
242. Nizer, supra note 136, at 548.
243. Madow, supra note 299, at 147.
244. Matthias Kalle & Elisabeth Raether, Ware Schönheit, 26 ZEIT MAGAZIN, June 24, 2010, at 13. The show's host-Heidi Klum-is a German native, who according to one poll has "level of name recognition" with the German public of more than ninety-six percent.
245. Id. at 14. As the ZEIT MAGAZIN added, "The same as Jesus."
246. Id.
247. Castingshow, WIKIPEDIA, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castingshow.
248. The sale occurred in 2004. Das Team hinter StayFriends, STAYFRIENDS, http://www.stayfriends.de/j/ViewController?action=teampage.
249. Prosser, supra note 1, at 419.
250. Id. at 419-20.
251. Bloustein, supra note 9, at 991-92.
252. The case is Gill v. Hearst Pub. Co., 253 P.2d 441 (Cal. 1953).
253. Bloustein, supra note 9, at 991.
254. Cefalu v. Globe Newspaper Co., 391 N.E.2d 935, 939 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979);
255. Penwell v. Taft Broad. Co., 469 N.E.2d 1025 (Ohio Ct. App. 1984);
256. Gill, 253 P.2d 441.
257. See HELEN NISSENBAUM, PRIVACY IN CONTEXT 103-28 (2009);
258. Helen Nissenbaum, Privacy as Contextual Integrity, 79 WASH. L. REV. 119, 155-60 (2004).
259. The German Federal Constitutional Court did not emphasize the issue of consent because it was not at issue in the constitutional claim. As for the opinion of the Federal Supreme Court, it had only briefly discussed the lack of consent by either plaintiff to their portrayal in the novel. Federal Supreme Court, 58 NJW 2844, 2845 (2005).
260. Wolfhard Kothe, Die rechtfertigende Einwilligung, 185 AcP 105 (1985). On the use of the concept in U.S. tort law in the context of intentionally inflicted harm,
261. see generally EPSTEIN, supra note 90, at 43-50.
262. Landgericht München I, 49 ZUM 922, 923 (2005) (holding that the appearance of the eighteen-year-old niece of fashion designer Gianni Versace at a public ball in Vienna did not constitute consent to a news report showing her picture and stating that she weighed so little that she could hardly stand without help and that she had "spindly legs" and a "hollow-cheeked face") ("spindeldürre Beine, hohlwangiges Gesicht"). The Federal Supreme Court has also found that appearance at a public event, a horse riding competition, does not provide consent to use a photo from that event in a different context, 48 ZUM 919, 920 (2004) (holding that the participation of Caroline von Hanover's daughter Charlotte Casiraghi in a riding event did not constitute consent to a story about her weakness for horses (rather than for boys)).
263. Kunsturhebergesetz §22 [KUG] [Act on the Protection of the Copyright in Works of Art and Photographs], Jan, 1907, BGBl. III/fna 440-3 states as a principle that the picture of a person may only be distributed or shown to the public if the person depicted has consented. KUG § 23 then establishes several exemptions to this general rule.
264. Federal Supreme Court, 54 ZUM 701 (2010) (discussing the appearance of Caroline's daughter at a public event).
265. We discuss the concept of newsworthiness in more detail below.
266. BVerfGE 101, 361 - Caroline von Monaco II = BVerfG, 53 NJW 1021 (2000) An English translation of this decision is available at IIC 2002, 104.
267. BVerfGE 101, at 384.
268. Id. at 395.
269. Id. at 391.
270. Id. at 385.
271. OLG Frankfurt am Main, 53 NJW 594 (2000).
272. Id. at 595.
273. Id. After this litigation, the Federal Constitutional Court refused to accept Witt's constitutional claim in an unpublished order.
274. For press coverage of Witt's petition, see DER SPIEGEL, no. 47 (1999), available at http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-15118809.html and
275. http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,53326,00.html.
276. OLG Frankfurt am Main, 53 NJW 594, 595 (2000).
277. Walter Seitz, Einmal nackt - immer frei?, 53 NJW 2167, 2168 (2000).
278. OLG Frankfurt am Main, 53 NJW 594, 594 (2000).
279. See Jeff Rosen, The Web Means the End of Forgetting, N.Y. TIMES MAG. (July 21, 2010) ("[I]t might be helpful for us to explore new ways of living in a world that is slow to forgive."), available at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html;
280. DANIEL J. SOLOVE, THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION 198 (2007) ("[M]any people just don't appreciate the extensiveness of their exposure online."). A recent study suggests, however, that the younger generation does continue to be concerned about privacy.
281. See Chris Jay Hoofnagle et al., How Different are Young Adults from Older Adults When it Comes to Information Privacy Attitudes and Policies? (Working Paper), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfrn7abstract-id= 1589864. For coverage of this poll's results,
282. see Benny Evangelista, Study: Young People Concerned About Privacy, S.F. CHRON., Apr. 16, 2010, at Dl, available at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/15/BUTM1 CVCCA.DTL.
283. Anita L. Allen, Privacy-as-Data Control: Conceptual, Practical, and Moral Limits of the Paradigm, 32 CONN. L. REV. 861, 871-74 (2000) [hereinafter Allen, Privacy-as-Data];
284. Anita L. Allen, Coercing Privacy, 40 WM. & MARY L. REV. 723 (1999) [hereinafter Allen, Coercing Privacy].
285. Allen, Privacy-as-Data, supra note 336, at 871.
286. In an older decision of the Federal Administrative Court [BVerwG] [Bundesverwaltungsgericht], this point was raised with respect to the dignity of women being used in "peep-shows" on a rotating stage surrounded by closed cabins in which men could watch these women without being seen themselves. See BVerwGE 64, 274, 280 = 35 NJW 664, 665 (1982) (arguing for defense of human dignity even opposed to the "intentions of the affected party" because of its "transcending importance").
287. Ulrike Hinrichs, "Big Brother " und die Menschenwürde, 53 NJW 2173, 2175 (2000);
288. DIETER DÖRR, BIG BROTHER UND DIE MENSCHENWÜRDE 70 (2000). Dörr does argue, however, that talk show participants will still be able to evaluate what they are doing up to a certain degree.
289. See BEVERLEY-SMITH ET AL., supra note 129, at 137 ("[A] person who is informed about all relevant details of the envisaged project and who is free to revoke his permission at any time can also permit acts that would otherwise have violated his or her dignity.").
290. With respect to talk shows, see UDO DI FABIO, DER SCHUTZ DER MENSCHENWÜRDE DURCH ALLGEMEINE PROGRAMMGRUNDSÄTZE 56 (1998). Di Fabio suggests that the protection of participants might also protect viewers, especially minors.
291. Ulrike Hinrichs, "Big Brother" und die Menschenwürde, 53 NJW 2173, 2175 (2000).
292. See Di FABIO, supra note 340, at 37 (arguing that as long as the participant does not lose his role as an actively participating subject, human dignity is not violated);
293. DÖRR, supra note 339, at 90;
294. HUBERTUS GERSDORF, MEDIENRECHTLICHE ZULÄSSIGKEIT DES TV-FORMATS "BIG BROTHER" 34 (2000);
295. NADINE KLASS, RECHTLICHE GRENZEN DES REALITÄTSFERNSEHENS, 206 (2004).
296. Bonome v. Kaysen, No. 032767, 2004 WL 1194731, at *6 (Mass. Dist. Ct. Mar. 3, 2004).
297. See Horst Neumann-Duesberg, Bildberichterstattung über absolute und relative Personen der Zeitgeschichte, 15 JZ 114 (1960).
298. Federal Supreme Court, 60 NJW 1977 (2007) - Caroline von Hannover.
299. In particular, German law considers criminals as "public figures for limited purposes." See Kammergericht [Berlin Court of Appeals], 23 NJW-RR 1625 (2008) (discussing released terrorist).
300. On the importance of a link to an all-purpose public figure, see Federal Supreme Court, 58 NJW 56 (2005).
301. European Court of Human Rights, 57 NJW 2647 (2004) - Von Hannover v. Germany.
302. Id. at para. 76.
303. For analysis and further sources, see SOLOVE & SCHWARTZ, supra note 90, at 1014-15.
304. Nicolas Nohlen, Case Note, Von Hannover v. Germany, 100 AM. J. INT'L L. 196, 199-200 (2006). For a ringing endorsement of the case.
305. see Robin D. Barnes, The Caroline Verdict: Protecting Individual Privacy Against Media Invasion as a Matter of Human Rights, 110 PENN. ST. L. REV. 599, 606 (2006) ("The Von Hannover court recognized the crucial links between human dignity, familial privacy, and the development of the human personality.").
306. For different analyses of the consequence of the Von Hannover decision, see Andreas Heldrich, Persönlichkeitsschutz und Pressefreiheit nach der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention, 57 NJW 2634 (2004);
307. Stefan Engels & Uwe Jürgens, Auswirkungen der EGMR-Rechtsprechung zum Privatsphärenschutz: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Umsetzung des "Caroline"-Urteils im deutschen Recht, 57 NJW 2517, 2521 (2007);
308. Barbara McDonald, Privacy, Princesses, and Paparazzi, 50 N.Y.L. SCH. L. REV. 205, 223-24 (2005).
309. Stefan Blatt & Katharina Zilkowski, Caroline von Monaco: Geht ihre Ehe baden?, BUNTE, Jan. 7, 2010, http://www.bunte.de/royals/caroline-von-monaco- geht-ihre-ehe-baden---aid-14289.html.
310. For the Federal Constitutional Court's latest decision in litigation involving the royal family of Monaco, see BVerfG, Decision of Sept. 14, 2010, at http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/rk20100914-1bvrl84208. html (identifying different boundaries for the general right of personality when a magazine publishes (1) photographs, or (2) the text of an article).
311. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 345-46, 352 (1974).
312. For later cases, see Wolston v. Reader's Digest Assn'n, Inc., 443 U.S. 157 (1979),
313. Time, Inc. v. Firestone, 424 U.S. 448 (197'6);
314. Atlanta Journal-Constitution v. Jewell, 555 S.E.2d 175 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001).
315. For a proposal to classify participants in reality shows as limited-purpose public figures, see Darby Green, Almost Famous: Reality Television Participants as Limited-Purpose Public Figures, 6 VAND. J. ENT. & TECH. L. 94 (2003).
316. Prosser, supra note 1, at 413-15.
317. American law has followed this path through the Restatement's requirement that the tort of public disclosure require revelation of a matter not of legitimate concern to the public. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) TORTS, 652D(b).
318. See Federal Supreme Court, 62 NJW 3030, 3031 (2009) (holding that acquisition of a house by former politician Joschka Fischer was not a matter of public interest, but only a lesser and legally unprotected matter of public curiosity).
319. A recent case of the Federal Supreme Court saw it applying established legal categories to a website, spickmich.de, that permits students to evaluate their teachers. The Federal Supreme Court noted that the ratings simply provided information about the "social sphere" rather than any intimate information. Regarding the impact of the Internet, it stated, "It cannot be doubted that over the Internet a more extensive exchange of views is possible than can take place on parent consultation days, or in the playground or schoolyard." Federal Supreme Court, 62 NJW 2888 (2009).
320. This result was also a good thing; it allowed an exchanging of opinions by students, parents and teachers and the fulfillment of their information interests. Id. at 2892.
321. Moreover, the court noted, "The right to freedom of expression is not restricted to judgments that are objectively and generally valid." Id. at 2893.
322. In September 2010, the Federal Constitutional Court declined, without explanation, to hear an appeal from this decision of the Federal Supreme Court. Lehrerin scheitert mit Klage gegen Spickmich, SPIEGEL ONLINE, Sept. 22, 2010, at http://www.spiegel.de/schulspiegel/wissen/0,1518,719015,00.html. For a discussion of the Federal Supreme Court's decision,
323. see Karl-Nikolaus Peifer & Johannes Kamp, Datenschutz und Persönlichkeitsrecht, 53 ZUM 185 (2009).
324. See Karl-Heinz Ladeur, Die Verfassungswidrigkeit des Drei-Stufen-Tests für Online-Angebote des öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks, 53 ZUM 906, 909 (2009).
325. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 35, 202, 232 - Lebach I.
326. See Mug Shots, THE SMOKING GUN, http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/ index.html.
327. Federal Supreme Court, 59 NJW 599 - Autobahnraser (2006);
328. Federal Supreme Court, BGHZ 143, 199, 203 - Korruptionsverdacht.
329. For a report on the investigation against Kachelmann, his arrest, his questionable personal life with the lies that he told to his multiple girlfriends, and the weaknesses in the case against him, see Jürgen von Dahlkamp & Simone Kaiser & Barbara Schmid, Justiz: Er schlaeft mit ihr!, DER SPIEGEL, no. 23 (June 7, 2010), available at http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/ print/d70833818.html;
330. Hannelore Crolly, Kachelmanns Sex, Lügen und Wettervorhersagen, BERLINER MORGENPOST (July 5, 2010), available at http://www.morgenpost.de/ vermischtes/articlel337355/Kachelmanns-Sex-Luegen-und-Wettervorhersagen.html (noting that, after more than one hundred days of investigation of Kachelmann, "about his private life we know much, about his guilt nothing").
331. Sabine Rückert, Schuldig auf Verdacht, DIE ZEIT, no. 26, June 24, 2010, at 15.
332. Id. For an update on the Kachelmann case,
333. see Peter von Becker, Justizopfter Kachelmann, ZEIT ONLINE, July 29, 2010, http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/201007/kachelmann- haftentlassung-justizskandal.
334. HEINRICH BÖLL, DIE VERLORENE EHRE DER KATHARINA BLUM (1974).
335. On a page before the novel begins, Boll terms any similarities in its pages with the journalistic practices of the Bild Zeitung "neither intentional nor accidental, but rather unavoidable." Id. at 5.
336. Id. at 60.
337. Id. at 144 (emphasis removed).
338. ROSEN, supra note 251, at 7.
339. Id. at 200.
340. See Ralf Michaels, The Functional Method of Comparative Law, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF COMPARATIVE LAW 339, 358-59 (Mathias Reimann & Reinhard Zimmermann eds., 2006) (arguing in favor of an approach to comparative law that views "society (and its subsystems, including law) as a system constituted by the relation of its elements, rather than set up by elements that are independent of each other").
341. Richards & Solove, supra note 16, at 1887.
342. Id. at 1924.
343. Id. at 1890.
344. Id. at 1917.
345. Id. at 1920.
346. Id. at 1924.
347. Id. at 1922.
348. Leon Green, The Right of Privacy, 27 U. III. L. REV. 237, 250 (1932).
349. Green discovered the concept in Melvin v. Reid, 297 P. 91, 94 (Cal. Ct. Ap. 1931). Although the notion of privacy-happiness has not panned out, California has added "privacy" explicitly to the inalienable rights that its state constitution protects. Unlike the federal Constitution, California also enforces this interest against private parties.
350. For a discussion, see Paul M. Schwartz, From Victorian Secrets to Cyberspace Shaming, 76 U. CHI. L. REV. 1407,1417-18 (2009).
351. Bloustein, supra note 9, at 1001.
352. James Q. Whitman, Enforcing Civility and Respect: Three Societies, 109 YALE L.J. 1279, 1280 (2000).
353. See, e.g., Paul M. Schwartz, Property, Privacy, and Personal Data, 117 HARV. L. REV. 2055, 2084-94 (2004);
354. Jerry Kang, Information Privacy in Cyberspace Transactions, 50 STAN. L. REV. 1193 (1998);
355. Haemmerli, supra note 258, at 383, 417-20.
356. On the general shortcomings, see Richards & Solove, supra note 16;
357. Strahilevitz, supra note 15. For a discussion of the shortcomings of Prosser's categories in the online context and as regards health care data,
358. see, for example, Paul M. Schwartz, Privacy and Democracy in Cyberspace, 52 VAND. L. REV. 1609, 1634 (1999);
359. Paul M. Schwartz, Privacy and the Economics of Personal Health Care Information, 76 TEX. L. REV. 1, 34 (1997).
360. Krause, supra note 152, at 488.
361. For a comparative analysis of the German treatment of privacy in the early 1930's that already found a higher level of protection for this interest compared to the "Anglo-American law on this question," see H.C. Gutteridge, The Comparative Law of the Right to Privacy, 47 L.Q. REV. 203, 211 (1931).
362. Richards & Solove, supra note 16;
363. Neil M. Richards & Daniel J. Solove, PRIVACY'S OTHER PATH: RECOVERING THE LAW OF CONFIDENTIALITY, 96 GEO. L.J. 123 (2007).
364. See Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293 (1966);
365. Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206 (1966);
366. Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427 (1963).
367. Nader v. Gen. Motors Corp., 255 N.E.2d 765, 770 (N.Y. 1970).
368. As a leading intellectual property casebook states, "Today, every one of the United States protects trade secrets in some form or another." ROBERT MERGES ET AL., INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL AGE 35 (5th ed. 2009).
369. For a definition of a trade secret, see Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition: "A trade secret is any information that can be used in the operation of a business or other enterprise and that is sufficiently valuable and secret to afford an actual or potential economic advantage over others." RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF UNFAIR COMPETITION § 39 (1995).
370. Strahilevitz, supra note 15.
371. Id. at 1985.
372. Id. at 1959.
373. Id. at 1985.
374. Id.
375. Id.
376. The Posner opinion is Desnick v. Am. Broad. Co., Inc., 44 F.3d 1345 (7th Cir 1995).
377. Warren & Brandeis, supra note 1, at 207.
378. Federal Constitutional Court, BVerfGE 119, 1, at para. 88 = 39 IIC 206, at para. 88 (2008).
379. Federal Supreme Court, 62 NJW 2888 (2009) (teacher's rating);
380. Landgericht Regensburg, 12 MMR 363 (2009) (professor's rating);
381. Landgericht Berlin 10 MMR 668 (2007) (professor's rating).
382. There is a continuing fascination in Germany, for example, with royalty, such as Princess Caroline or the Swedish royal family. As an illustration, the wedding of Princess Victoria in June 2010 was subject to nearly nonstop coverage in the German media. See Der Spiegel's summary of its coverage of Victoria,