New Oriental is in the spotlight again, but this time it's being sued by Liu Xiang...
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
[2] Recently, the Beijing Court Trial Information Network disclosed the first-instance civil judgment regarding the portrait rights dispute between Liu Xiang and Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas Consulting Co., Ltd. The judgment states that Liu Xiang alleged the company used his portrait in an article published on its WeChat public account without permission, accompanied by commercial promotional information.
[3] The court held in the first instance that the defendant's use of Liu Xiang's portrait in the article on the involved public account without consent constituted an infringement of Liu Xiang's portrait rights. Although the article used the plaintiff's portrait, the photos were from his competition scenes and were not defaced or defiled, making the infringement minor in nature.
[4] The judgment shows that Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas Consulting Co., Ltd. must issue a written apology to plaintiff Liu Xiang and compensate him for economic losses of 6,000 yuan.
[5] According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas Consulting Co., Ltd. is wholly owned by New Oriental Education Technology Group Co., Ltd.
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 1018: [Right to Portrait]
A natural person enjoys the right to likeness and has the right to legally make, use, disclose, or permit others to use his or her own likeness.
Likeness refers to the identifiable external image of a specific natural person reflected on a certain medium through images, sculptures, paintings, or other means.
Article 1019: [Negative Rights of Portrait Right]
No organization or individual may infringe upon another person’s right to portrait by means of vilification, defacement, or falsification through information technology. Without the consent of the portrait right holder, no one may produce, use, or publicly disclose the portrait of the right holder, unless otherwise provided by law.
Without the consent of the portrait right holder, the owner of the portrait work may not use or publicly disclose the portrait of the right holder by means of publication, reproduction, distribution, rental, exhibition, or other means.
[1] The author's perspective
In recent years, the number of legal disputes related to portrait rights in China has been increasing, most of which involve public figures such as celebrities and artists seeking to protect their rights. Generally, if a company publicly publishes photos containing the portrait of a celebrity without their consent for promotional purposes, such behavior is likely to infringe upon the individual's portrait rights, and the company must bear corresponding civil liability for the infringement.
When adjudicating such portrait rights cases, courts consider multiple factors, such as the celebrity's level of fame and scope of influence, as well as whether the defendant profited or engaged in acts that defamed or distorted the individual's image. Therefore, the final judgment of 6,000 yuan in this case was primarily based on the minor nature of the infringement. In recent years, China has increasingly strengthened the protection of natural persons' personality rights. When these rights are violated, individuals should effectively use legal tools to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
