In April 2006, the magazine "das neue," published by the defendant, featured an article concerning the then-relationship of Sabine Christiansen, the plaintiff, with Norbert Medus, her current husband, in Paris. Both the magazine's cover and the inside article were illustrated with photos showing both individuals together. The cover and article included, among other things, the text: "So in love in Paris" and "Bet she marries this man soon?"
The plaintiff obtained a judgment from the Berlin Regional Court prohibiting the defendant from publishing and disseminating the images. The Berlin Court of Appeal largely dismissed the defendant's appeal. It justified its decision by stating that the photos, which showed the depicted individuals engaged in private activities and could only have been taken through continuous observation by photographers, constituted an infringement of the plaintiff's core privacy, which she was not obliged to tolerate, especially since the article primarily served entertainment purposes and lacked significant social relevance.
The Sixth Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), responsible, inter alia, for personality rights, upheld the appellate judgment. The plaintiff and her partner are identifiable in the photos as a couple in recognizably private situations. Private life events remain part of protected privacy even when they occur in public spaces and when the depicted individuals are known to a wider public. It would constitute a significant restriction of the right to free development of personality if anyone known to a wider public could not move freely in public, because they could be photographed at any time during private occasions without the required consent. In this case, there was no public interest in information, to which the plaintiff's personality rights would have to yield, neither regarding the depicted subjects nor the reporting on details of the depicted individuals' then-relationship and their private activities in Paris. The plaintiff's frequent public appearances and her public statements about the new relationship do not alter this assessment. The self-portrayal of celebrities generally does not grant the press the right to publish images from their private lives without the necessary consent, if the publication does not serve a sufficient public interest in information to be considered in the balancing of interests.
Judgment of the Federal Court of Justice of February 17, 2009 – VI ZR 75/08
Lower Courts:
Berlin Court of Appeal – 10 U 166/07 – Decision of February 11, 2008
Regional Court Berlin – 27 O 85/07 – Decision of May 8, 2007
Source: Press release of the Federal Court of Justice of February 17, 2009
Goldberg Rechtsanwälte
Attorney-at-law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist Lawyer for Information Technology Law (IT Law)
Email: info@goldberg.de
