Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Who owns rights to letters and photographs?

Depending on the circumstances of the taking, your relationship with the person who took the photos/letters, previous publication, if any, of the photos and letters and your status (private person vs. celebrity), you may have a claim based on the violation of your privacy and/or publicity rights. This type of claim is highly fact-dependent so general discussion of the issues involved is pretty much useless. Normally book publishers and film producers obtain consents and releases for the use of any personally identifiable material (whether or not it comes from the recipient of the correspondence); however, there are also defences to certain unlicensed use.