Image law

Everyone, regardless of their status, social position or position, has the right to respect for their private life. However, there is no legal definition of privacy. This is by nature very broad and relative depending on the personality and behavior of each individual. In this area, the courts therefore decide on a case-by-case basis.

Nonetheless, it is possible to list some broad areas that are undeniably part of privacy and which deserve protection. Some information about individuals themselves is privacy: health status, religious beliefs, morals in general … Then, certain elements affecting their daily lives and possessions can be part of it: address, home, heritage …

Following an infringement, a legal action will allow the victim to make a judicial order for its cessation if it persists and obtain monetary compensation for the harm suffered.

Violations of privacy can take the form of violations of a person’s right in his or her image. This is not an intellectual property right per se, but confusion is frequent. The right to the image is in fact guaranteed by no legal text. On the other hand, the courts have long recognized the notion. Today, there are many kinds of damage to the image of people. Traditionally, these were mainly perpetrated by the print media. For the past ten years, the explosive development of digital photography and multifunction mobile phones have allowed everyone to capture individual shots and distribute them widely in a timely fashion on social networks or other websites, of the parties concerned. The victim of an infringement of his / her image can usefully call upon a lawyer to obtain, by emergency measures, the judicial authority to withdraw the images in dispute. An action against the person or persons responsible for the publication of the images will also enable the victim to obtain a just financial remedy for the harm suffered.