Introduction

Interests in reputation, protected by the tort of defamation, occupy a central position in relation to the problem of appropriation of personality in English law and the systems which follow it, in the sense that recovery for damage to any other interests has traditionally been parasitic upon the recovery for injury to reputation. It is only after a substantive injury to reputation has been established that other interests, such as interests in personal privacy, or interests in freedom from mental distress, can be considered as factors which might be taken into account in assessing the quantum of damages. That is not to say that interests in reputation lie at the heart of the de facto problem of appropriation of personality. Indeed, injuries to what are essentially economic interests, interests in personal privacy, or interests in freedom from mental distress, independent of any interests in reputation, might well be more important in a case of appropriation of personality. Other legal systems have taken a more direct approach. Most notably in the United States, the right of privacy and, subsequently, the right of publicity, have provided the predominant legal responses to appropriation of personality and the tort of defamation has played a relatively limited role, although claims for defamation have occasionally been made to substitute for claims of invasion of privacy or to supplement claims for invasion of privacy where the conduct of the defendant injured both interests in reputation and interests in privacy.