According to a press release from the Munich District Court, a hotelier who used photos of his hotel on the internet must pay damages due to the lack of reference to the photographer. By granting unlimited rights of use, the photographer did not waive the right to have his name mentioned.
No credit given to the photographer
A professional photographer specializing in the production of hotel photos had taken photographs of a hotel in Friedrichshafen on behalf of its managing director and received a fee of just under 1,000 euros. The hotelier used 13 of the 19 images on the hotel’s website and on six hotel portal pages on the Internet. He did not mention the name of the photographer. As a result, the photographer demanded that the hotel cease and desist and pay damages. The hotel then added a reference to the photographer on its website, but did not pay any compensation.
Infringement of naming rights
In a ruling dated 24.06.15 (Ref.: 142 C 11428/15), the Munich District Court awarded the photographer damages of just under 700 euros. By making the photos publicly accessible on its own website, the hotel had infringed the photographer’s right to be named.
According to the Copyright Act, only the photographer has the right to decide whether his photos may only be used with his name mentioned. The photographer had not waived this right when concluding the contract with the hotel.
No waiver of attribution
According to the competent judge, the granting of unlimited rights of use does not include a waiver of attribution. The name of the photographer must always be mentioned.
The hotel was also unable to provide evidence of any deviating practice in the industry. It should therefore have checked before using the images and inquired whether it was allowed to use the photos without naming the photographer. The use of the photographs without reference to the photographer would infringe the photographer’s rights.
Amount of damage
The amount of damages was calculated by the court as follows: It assumed – as is customary in the case law of the Munich Local Court – the agreed fee for the use of the images and made a surcharge of 100 percent. However, as the hotelier had only posted 13 of the 19 images, it did not apply the original total price of the images that the hotel had paid to the photographer for their production, but only the partial amount of around 700 euros attributable to the 13 images.
The judgment is not yet final.
(A contribution by Juliane Böcken)