EUR 15,000 damages for pornographic images?

Does the public provision of photo montages on the Internet, on which the face of a woman and the partially or fully exposed bodies of naked women in pornographic poses can be seen, constitute a violation of the general personality rights of the recognizable person? In the context of a claim for damages, the Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg (OLG Oldenburg) has now taken up this question.

A man from Oldenburg had published pornographic photo montages of his sister-in-law on various websites on the Internet, in some cases even naming his sister-in-law and her home region. These were photo montages on which the face and the partially or fully exposed bodies of (other) naked women in pornographic poses could be seen.

When the sister-in-law was made aware in October 2010 that pornographic depictions of her person had been published on various websites on the Internet, she filed a criminal complaint against her brother-in-law and brought an action before the Regional Court of Oldenburg (Landgericht Oldenburg), in which she sued her brother-in-law for payment of damages.

After the Regional Court of Oldenburg (Landgericht Oldenburg) had ordered the brother-in-law to pay damages in the amount of EUR 22,000 for the serious violation of the sister-in-law's general personality rights in the first instance, he appealed to the Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg (OLG Oldenburg) against the judgment rendered.

Court decision

The 13th Civil Senate of the Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg (OLG Oldenburg) confirmed by judgment of 11.8.2015 – Az. 13 U 25/15 (Press release) – the judgment of the first instance in so far as it also found a serious violation of the sister-in-law's general personality rights. However, the appellate court reduced the damages award and ordered the brother-in-law to pay damages in the amount of EUR 15,000 for the publication of the photo montages on the Internet.

In its reasoning, the court stated that higher amounts would only be awarded in case law if the victim of a pornographic or erotic Internet publication had suffered concrete impairments (e.g., telephone calls or ringing of the doorbell). Fortunately, this had not been the case with the sister-in-law.

Conclusion

A violation of the general personality rights in cases where erotic images of a woman who is at least recognizable to her circle of acquaintances are published on the Internet with her name and place of residence is beyond question. However, the reduction of the damages award made by the Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg (OLG Oldenburg) can certainly be debated. After all, in this case the sister-in-law was made aware of the violations by third parties. One could well regard that as a concrete impairment.