Insofar as no photos are taken overcoming an enclosure or the photos depict a dwelling, it is not legally objectionable if photos of a house are taken from the open street for the Google Street View website. With this reasoning, the 10th Civil Senate of the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the owner of a detached house who had unsuccessfully tried before the Regional Court to prohibit Google Inc. from taking photographs of her house in the vicinity of Berlin. She feared that she and her family, as well as the private area of her front garden and flat, would be recognisable in the photos.
This request was clearly rejected by the Regional Court and the Court of Appeal. According to the Regional Court, the mere depiction of rows of houses or streets was not legally relevant. However, the applicant had not shown a sufficient probability that further unauthorised photographs would be taken. Therefore, she could not already demand the prohibition of photos by way of preventive legal protection. In addition, Google made people's faces anonymous and allowed the possibility of making photographs of buildings unrecognisable before they were published.
Berlin Regional Court, decision of September 13, 2010 - 37 O 363/10
Berlin Appellate Court, Order of October 25, 2010 - 10 W 127/10
Source: Press release of the President of the Berlin Court of Appeal, Press Office of the Berlin Civil Courts, Elßholzstr. 30-33, 10781 Berlin
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2011
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information law (IT law)
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
