"Borat" and Privacy, Again

Ellen Johnston was portrayed in last year Borat movie when she participated in a religious camp. She knew that she would be filmed. but believed that it was a “religious documentary.”. She genuinely believed that the character Borat, played by Sasha Baron Cohen was real, and that he truly experienced a religious conversion. The reaction of the plaintiff witnessing this “conversion” can be seen in the movie.

She is now suing the producers of the movie for invasion of privacy and for having been portrayed in a false light. See here, on Justia.com, and here, on On pointnews.com

This month, in the order granting in part and denying in part the Motion to Alter Judgment. the Northern District of Mississippi agrees with the plaintiff that whether an invasion of privacy/misappropriation claim is limited to commercial advertising context is still “an open question” in Mississippi. The Court notes that neither section 652C of the Restatement (Second) of Torts and its the four comments of do not confine a misappropriation to commercial advertising, but suggests that the Fifth Circuit should certify this question.