Princess Caroline: Personal rights versus freedom of the press

Publication of pictures of Caroline Princess of Hanover and Ernst August Prince of Hanover prohibited

The plaintiff spouses objected to the publication of photographs in the press products published by the defendants. In connection with the then life-threatening illness of the husband from inflammation of the pancreas, the defendants had published (different) articles about the illness, alcohol consumption as a possible cause and the recovery phase, which were predominantly illustrated with older photographs, in one case with a current photograph.

In all proceedings, the plaintiffs' applications for an injunction to re-publish the photos were successful in the lower courts.

The VI Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice, which is responsible for questions of violation of the general right of personality, has now rejected the appeals of the publishers. The Federal Supreme Court has now rejected the appeals of the publishers.

The balancing of the plaintiffs' rights and the freedom of the press and information required by the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) in Karlsruhe and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg showed that the plaintiffs' right of personality took precedence in all publications of pictures. The applicants' interest in protecting their own private sphere, which generally included their state of health, i.e. their interest in protecting private events that simply did not belong in the public domain, outweighed the interest in reporting and did not permit interference with the applicants' right to their own image.

The fact that the plaintiff had given interviews about his illness in one of the cases before publication, and in the other cases shortly after the publication of the photographs complained of, could not justify the encroachment on the general right of personality of the persons depicted in the publications of the photographs.

 

Judgment of the Federal Supreme Court of 14 October 2008 - No.: VI ZR 256/06

Previous instances: LG Hamburg - 324 O 463/05 - Decision of 31 March 2006 - OLG Hamburg - 7 U 57/06 - Decision of 21 November 2006

Source: Press release no. 191/2008 of the press office of the BGH

 

Goldberg Attorneys at Law, Wuppertal - Solingen 2008

Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)

E-mail m.ullrich@goldberg.de

 

Seal