Right to one’s own image

The right to one’s own image means this: whether a recording of you is published is your decision, not the decision of the person who made it. The statutory basis is section 22 of the Kunsturhebergesetz: likenesses may be distributed or displayed in public only with the consent of the person depicted. The right is an expression of the general right of personality.

Consent is the pivot

Without consent, distribution is unlawful; with consent it is lawful, and only to the extent the consent covers. That is the practical core: later disputes turn not on whether, but on how far. Who agreed to which media, which territories and which duration follows from what was agreed in writing.

The statute contains a rule performers should know: anyone who is depicted for payment is, in case of doubt, treated as having given consent. A fee can therefore count against you if you later deny that you consented at all. That default rule does not replace a clear agreement on scope, and the more intrusive the recording, the less a blanket presumption will carry. There are also exceptions that work without consent, for example likenesses from contemporary history. They play no part in erotic productions.

Image rights and copyright sit with different people

Two rights sit side by side on a recording. Copyright in the work arises with the person who created the recording — the photographer or camera operator — and is usually granted from there to the production. The right to one’s own image sits with you as the person depicted.

Two things follow. First, nobody may publish unless both sides have given permission. Second, you are not the author of your recordings and cannot rely on copyright if you want to challenge a use. Your claim to a copy of the material does not follow from the image right either, only from the contract. Anyone who wants a copy has to agree it.

What that means for the contract

The practical lever is the wording with which you grant the usage rights. Name media, territories and period separately. Regulate whether material may be passed on and to whom. Clarify whether clips may be used for advertising, because that is a different use from the film itself. The article the model contract clause by clause shows what such passages look like.

The right also applies inside the crew. A colleague who photographs you in makeup with a phone and posts the picture on a private channel is distributing a likeness without consent. That they worked on the same shoot changes nothing, and the production’s contract does not cover them for that.

Do not forget: alongside the image right, data-protection law applies with its own requirements. The two interlock, which is why the consent declaration and the contractual grant of rights have to be read separately.

This text places the basics in context and is not a substitute for legal advice.