Roberson v Rochester Folding Box Company
From Personality Rights Database
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| United States |
[edit] Roberson v Rochester Folding Box Company
Case Name: Roberson / Rochester Folding Box Company
Keywords: Use of a Portrait for commercial products
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Country: USA
Citation: 171 NY 538
Date: 1902
Case No.: -
Importance: Portrait rights in New York were not protected by common law.
Facts: The defendant had used the protrait of the female claimant to decorate the flour bags that they produced. The claimant objected and asked for compensation at common law.
The New York Court of Appeals was split 4:3. There was clear influence of the Warren / Brandeis Article in 4 Harvard Law Review 193 (1890) in the judgment. The Court nonetheless decided that misappropriation of personality was not protected by the common law, although they clearly saw a deserving claimant.
A general rule of privacy as proposed by Warren and Brandeis was seen as too great a development for the New York court. Such a rule was considered too broad to be enforced. The court therefore suggested that legislature should enact a statute to tackle specific cases. As a result the New York Civil law was amended in 1903. Section 50, 51 has since that time protected the use of a portrait for commercial advertising and for trade.
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