Texas

Texas recognizes the intrusion, private facts, and misappropriation torts. Texas does not recognize false light. Cain v. Hearst Corp., No. D-4171 (Tex. June 22, 1994).

Intrusion: A television broadcast that showed footage of a private residence was protected because it was shot from a public street. Wehling v. CBS, 721 F.2d 506 (5th Cir. 1983).

Footage of an apartment building and an office building that was shown in a television broadcast did not amount to an intrusion because the footage only showed what could be viewed from a public street. American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Gill, No. 04-97-00838-CV (Tex. Ct. App. Fourth Dist. June 16, 1999).

Private facts: A photograph from a high school soccer game that showed a players genitalia was privileged under the First Amendment because the public event was newsworthy. McNamara v. Freedom Newspapers Inc., 802 S.W.2d 901 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

A news broadcast that used the first name of a rape victim and a picture of the residence where she was attacked did not support an invasion of privacy claim because the broadcast -- which questioned the guilt of the convicted rapist -- was newsworthy. Ross v. Midwest Communications Inc., 870 F.2d 271 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 935 (1989).

Certain nude photographs of children originally appeared, with parental consent, in The Sex Atlas, a book on human sexuality. Republication of those photos to illustrate a book review of The Sex Atlas in a sexually explicit magazine was protected. Faloona v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 607 F. Supp. 1341 (N.D. Tex. 1985), affd, 799 F.2d 1000 (5th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1088 (1987).

Misappropriation: Anheuser-Busch did not misappropriate the name and likeness of a war hero in a documentary about Hispanic war heroes because the film was made not to boost sales, but as a public service. Benavidez v. Anheuser-Busch Inc., 873 F.2d 102 (5th Cir. 1989).