20/09/2021
Image Rights: What You Should Know...
Pretty sure you probably have heard the term Image Rights. Perhaps through celebrity gist or court cases relating to big-time stars or conglomerates over disputes related to Image rights infringement or charges by government filed against some star who evade tax from their Image rights earnings.
Absolute for sure, there's huge a whole lot of fortune in the industry centered around image rights. We are talking billions of fo dollars. But exactly are image rights and how does it apply to us from a legal standpoint in Nigeria.
Image Rights refer to a person's right to commercial aspects of his personality such as physical appearance, pictures or caricatures, signature, personal logos and slogan. This also includes the right to prevent other people from commercially making use of them.
It gives an individual the right to prevent the unauthorized use of their name, likeness or other personal indicia, such as physical or style characteristics, signatures, nicknames of slogans associated with them.
There apparently are no Nigerian Authority or Legislation that defines Image right or the extent of its protection. There are no specific laws governing Image Rights in Nigeria. There are also no known judicial precedence on claims of this nature.
However, the rights to privacy is enshrined in the Constitution as always has always been called in aid when claims of the nature arise. Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversation, and telegraphic communication.
It is however not clear how the courts will apply to the right to privacy in enforcing the image right of a person.