Foundations of Legal Protection of Reputation

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor,Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Today, celebrities have a profound impact on various aspects of society, and especially on its economy. As in marketing, it has been proven that the use of celebrities in advertising, especially where it means the endorsement of a celebrity's quality, makes the subject matter of the advertisement remain in the audience's mind for a long time. This bold and influential role has led different legal systems to try to give celebrity a special right to their fame. In American law, for example, The Right of Publicity is used. This right means that a person is allowed to exploit his identity and oppose exploitation without the permission of others. The right is defined in Black's Law Dictionary as "the right of [an] individual, especially [a] public figure or celebrity, to control [the] commercial value and exploitation of his name or picture or likeness or to prevent others from unfairly appropriating that value for their [own] commercial benefit."
The right, which is now recognized as the right of publicity, was originally rooted in privacy law but in the future, this right was separated from the right of privacy. The right of privacy was non-financial and non-transferable to another while publicity right was a financial and transferable right to another.
Although there is little doubt about the principle of celebrity protection today, there are different approaches to the foundations of celebrity support. why celebrities should be supported? Is their support justified? Some believe that celebrities do not deserve protection. They believe that celebrity fame has no benefit to society. So why should we increase their income without justification by recognizing this right? The group argues that celebrity rights should not be compared with intellectual property rights. Because intellectual property rights have benefits for society, but fame is not as intellectual property rights. Against this approach, some have tried to support celebrities. Some try to use ethical basics to justify the need for the legal protection of the reputation of celebrities. Others use economic principles to justify this right. They use the theory of the common property tragedy. The American legal system, under the influence of a culture of consumerism and capitalism, protect the fame. No matter what its origin is. So, economic fundamentals are used to justify the issue. Because in this set of fundamentals, we have nothing to do with whether or not a person's reputation is derived from his or her hard work, but that reputation, irrespective of how it is acquired, in any case, deserves support. In the legal systems of Germany and France, personality rights are mainly cited, but this ground is incapable of justifying the financial effects of the rights of the persons concerned. In the Iranian legal system, a different approach seems to be chosen: given the emphasis of religious and the legal system on work and its importance, it seems that the basis for the protection of reputation is work. Accordingly, fame will only be supported when it is achieved by effort, not by accident. However, non-financial effects are justified by reference to the personality rights.

Keywords

References

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Comparative Law Review
Volume 11, Issue 1
Spring & Summer
April 2020
Pages 339-361

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