Austria: tour operator not allowed to use consumers’ pictures for travel brochures

The plaintiffs, a married couple, took part in a package trip to Scotland organised by the defendant. At the occasion of a visit to the old blacksmith’s shop at Gretna Green, a pretended wedding cermony was enacted in which the plaintiffs played the bride and the groom. The bus driver took pictures of this ‘ceremony’.Without asking for the plaintiffs’ permisson, the tour operator later used these pictures in his brochures and on the website to advertise similar trips. The plaintiffs filed a cease and desist claim which was granted in first and second instance. The Supreme Court (OGH) dismissed a further appeal of the defendant: the use of the picture of a person for advertising purposes giving the wrong impression the depicted person had agreed for money, in any case adversely affected personal rights.OGH ruling 4 Ob 192/12g of Nov. 28. 2012Source: OGH press release of Jan. 9, 2013

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