Image Rights: Where Protection Begins
A person's image — a photograph, film, video and the like — belongs to the sphere of personal non-pecuniary rights. The law sets the rule directly: a person has the right of claim also where their image is published without their consent. This means that publishing your photograph or video without your permission is a violation of law, and you may demand the cessation of that act and its rejection — even where the published material is factually accurate and did not offend you.
This right stands within the general framework of personality rights: a person has the right, through the court and in the manner established by law, to protect their honor, dignity, privacy of personal life, personal inviolability or business reputation from violation. The unauthorized use of an image is one manifestation of this protection — and it is exercised irrespective of the infringer's fault, that is, compensation of damage requires fault, but the demand to stop the use does not.
When Consent Is Not Required
The requirement of consent is not absolute: a person's consent is not required where the photographing or video recording is connected with their public recognition, with the position held, with the demands of justice or the police, with scientific, educational or cultural purposes, or where the photographing took place in a public setting, or where the person received remuneration for posing.
These exceptions are checkpoints of practical control. A frame taken in a public setting is one situation, and its use in advertising another: the fact of taking the picture and the purpose of its use are different questions, and being photographed in a public place does not always give the photographer the right to use the extracted image for commercial purposes. It is precisely legal assessment that determines these boundaries — and it is better that this assessment take place before publication.
Denial of Injurious Statements and the Right of Reply
Where statements violating honor, dignity, business reputation or the privacy of personal life have been disseminated together with your image, the law also provides informational remedies: where injurious statements have been disseminated through mass-information media, their denial must likewise occur through the same media, and where a document issued by an organization contains such data, that document must be replaced and interested persons informed of it.
A person whose honor- and dignity-injuring statements have been published in mass-information media has the right to publish responsive statements in the same media. In the context of image rights this means the injured party is not limited to a demand for removal — it can bring its own position to the same audience.
Compensation of Damage and Moral Harm
The protection of the good contemplated by this norm is exercised irrespective of the infringer's fault. Where, however, the violation is caused by a culpable act, the person may also demand compensation of damage. Compensation of damage may be claimed in the form of the profit that accrued to the infringer — in other words, where someone earned income from your image, that profit becomes the basis of compensation.
In case of culpable infringement the entitled person may also demand compensation for non-pecuniary, moral harm. Compensation of moral harm may be sought independently of the compensation of pecuniary damage. In cases of bodily injury or damage to health the victim may likewise claim compensation for non-pecuniary damage, in the form of reasonable and fair compensation.
Statements connected with an image are often accompanied by factual assertions, and here the rules on the dissemination of damage-bringing statements come into play: a person who intentionally or negligently disseminates or publicizes facts bringing pecuniary damage to another person is obliged to compensate the damage arising therefrom, where those facts are evidently incorrect. The general basis is that a person who causes damage to another by an unlawful intentional or negligent act is obliged to compensate that damage.
An exception exists as well: the obligation to compensate damage does not arise from statements that serve the protection of lawful public interests. This rule draws the boundary between private interest and public discussion — and it is often the influence of precisely this boundary that decides such disputes.
Time Limits and Practical Steps
The limitation period for the right to claim compensation of damage caused by a tort is three years from the moment when the victim learned of the damage or of the person obliged to compensate it. In cases of unauthorized use of an image this usually means the moment the person discovered the published material. Nevertheless, the preservation of evidence — frames, links, fixation of the fact of dissemination — should take place on the very first day. The attorneys of Legal.ge will assist you through the full cycle of protecting image rights — from the demand to the court dispute.
Frequently Asked Questions
The most frequent questions on image rights.
When is consent to publication not required?
Where the photograph concerns public recognition or an office held, demands of justice or the police, scientific, educational or cultural aims, a public setting, or remuneration received for posing.
What may be demanded on unauthorised use?
Cessation of the act; denial through the same media and a reply where injurious information was disseminated through mass media; replacement of an organisational document containing such data.
May damages be claimed?
Yes — where the violation results from a culpable act, the person may also demand compensation of damage; protection itself operates regardless of the infringer’s fault.
Within what term?
The limitation period for delictual damage is three years from the moment of knowledge.
How We Help on Legal.ge
In an image rights case the form of use, the consent exceptions and the valuation of damage matter. The lawyers of Legal.ge will assess your case, prepare the demand and represent you in court. Submit a request on the site.