actress Dilireba , who became popular with popular TV dramas such as "Pocahontas", " Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms ", " Long Song Xing ", thinks that a weight loss brand is using her own portrait without authorization and name for product sales and investment promotion, which infringed on his portrait rights, so he filed a lawsuit against the other party to the court. Recently, the court of second instance finally ruled that the weight loss brand publicly apologized to Di Lieba and compensated more than 500,000 yuan for economic losses.
The plaintiff Dilireba stated in the indictment that the defendant Tianxin (Shenzhen) Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tianxin Trading Company) used multiple sheets on the outer packaging of its products on the homepage of the official website without its consent. The plaintiff's portrait, printed with the plaintiff's printed name and handwritten signature, was used for product sales and investment promotion in the form of the plaintiff as the brand spokesperson, causing misunderstanding among consumers. According to the user posting records of " Xiaohongshu " platform provided by Dilireba, there are comments that Tianxin Trading Company's products: "How much does this endorsement cost, can the product be expensive?"; I haven’t dared to try weight loss products for a long time, but this time, I’m chasing after my star Dilireba, so follow her footsteps and try the CR7 brand fat-reducing coffee and jelly that she endorses.”
Dilireba believes that the defendant This is a serious violation of his portrait rights. Therefore, the defendant is required to make an apology, etc., and compensate for economic losses and other expenses totaling RMB 1,000,150.
In this regard, the defendant Tianxin Trading Company argued that the plaintiff had already sued the dealers with actual sales, and the defendant in this case was a repeated prosecution. If the case is supported, the repeated prosecution against the dealer should not be supported. In addition, even if the defendant should compensate, the amount of compensation that has already existed and will be incurred in the future should be deducted, and should not be double-counted. At the same time, the defendant did not have malicious intentions, did not publicize the plaintiff as the defendant's spokesperson, and the plaintiff claimed that the amount of compensation was too high. In response to this case,
, Beijing Internet Court made a first-instance judgment on July 28, 2022. The court held that the defendant's behavior had constituted an infringement of the plaintiff's right to portrait and name, and therefore ruled that the defendant publicly apologized to the plaintiff Dilireba, and compensated for economic losses of 500,000 yuan and notary fees of 150 yuan. After the first-instance judgment of
, the defendant refused to accept and appealed. Recently, the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court made a final judgment after the trial, dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
It is understood that this is not the first time that Di Ali Gerba has resorted to the court this year because of the infringement of portrait rights. According to the China Judgment Documents Network, Anhui Yangshengtianxia Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was awarded the final judgment on July 29, 2022 to compensate the plaintiff Dilireba for economic losses and other expenses for infringing on Dilireba's portrait rights and name rights. 50,150 yuan, and apologized.
In this regard, lawyer Pei Yinzhou, a member of the lawyer expert database of " Rule of Law Daily " and a senior partner of Beijing Kangda Law Firm, said that in this case, Tianxin Company used the name and portrait of the well-known artist Dilireba without authorization through multiple channels. Carrying out publicity has damaged Dilireba's public image and has a greater impact. Although the final compensation amount in the case is not high compared to the well-known artists themselves, it is of great significance for maintaining the commercial use value of their portraits and deterring similar infringements by other businesses.
In fact, in recent years, with the increase of commercial demand and the enlargement of star effect, it is not uncommon for companies to abuse star portrait rights and name rights. Yang Ying , Liu Tao , Sun Li , Gong Jun and many other celebrities have been infringed on their portrait rights and have gone to court with the infringing party.
"When merchants use the names and portraits of celebrities for commercial promotion, they should abide by the legal bottom line and obtain the permission of the right holder through legal channels. Otherwise, in addition to the corresponding civil liability to the right holder, it will also lead to a decrease in goodwill, from In the long run, the gains outweigh the losses." Lawyer Pei Yinzhou said.
Article｜Wang Wei, Shen Ruoshui
Source: Legal Network
