BWith so-called clickbaiting, the media try to collect as many clicks as possible using exciting headlines or celebrity photos. Because each click promises more ad revenue. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has now decided that people may not be attracted with pictures of celebrities if the post in question is not related to them. Through the ruling, the Karlsruhe court approved actor Sasha Hehn and session moderator Gunter Josh, who filed a lawsuit against publishers independently for a fictitious license fee to use their photos.
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Gauch sued a TV movie …,
Gunther Gauch’s lawsuit was specifically about this case: in 2015, TV Movie magazine wrote on Facebook: “One of those supervisors should quit due to cancer.” The photo of the article, which was exclusively on Roger Willemson (* 15 Aug 1955; 7 Feb 2016), showed four moderators, among them Gunter Gauch. It was not even mentioned in the post. Gauch then demanded a cease and desist declaration, which was also presented by a “TV movie”. However, when the parties could not agree on compensation, Gaucher sued. In the Regional Court (LG) in Cologne, he was right, at which point the publisher appealed. The Regional Supreme Court in Cologne (OLG) rejected this and stipulated that a fictitious license fee of € 20,000 be paid. BGH has now dismissed the appeal against the ruling. Presiding judge, Thomas Koch, when pronouncing the verdict, said the fact that the magazine had introduced Gauch’s disease into the room as closely as possible was of fundamental importance to the amount of the fictitious license fee. But he explained: “It is not by any means that click-trapping is no longer possible.” To do this, however, the article must refer to the person pictured in the photo.
… Hehn vs BILD AM SONNTAG
Sascha Hehn’s lawsuit was related to a competition announced by BILD AM SONNTAG in 2018. The main prize was Cruise. What fits best is a photo of the “Traumschiff” crew, according to the newspaper. Several actors from the popular ZDF series have been featured, including then-captain “Traumschiff” Sasha Hen. He defended himself with a lawsuit step-by-step: In the first step, Hehn demanded that the advertisement in his image, information about newspaper circulation and pay the warning costs be removed. In the second stage, a fake license fee must be determined. So far, the court has handled only the first stage. LG and OLG Cologne endorsed Hehn’s suit. Publisher review is now rejected under BGH ruling. The Karlsruhe court largely confirmed the OLG ruling. The only limitation: The newspaper is not obligated to inform the representative of how high trading was that day. Data available online on average turnover in the quarter was sufficient to calculate the corresponding licensing fee, according to the judges.
