Laws 2014, 3, 181–207; doi:10.3390/laws3020181 OPEN ACCESS laws ISSN 2075-471X www.mdpi.com/journal/laws/ Article Image Right and Copyright Law in Europe: Divergences and Convergences Tatiana Synodinou Law Department, University of Cyprus, New University Campus, PO Box 20537, Nicosia 1576, Cyprus; E-Mail:
[email protected] Received: 11 March 2014; in revised form: 7 April 2014 / Accepted: 17 April 2014 / Published: 23 April 2014 Abstract: This paper analyses the multiplicity of image rights in Europe and the classical conflictual relationship between the right to one’s own image and copyright law. First, the paper analyses the main mechanisms of legal protection of a person’s image in selected jurisdictions, in both the civil law and the common law tradition. It is deduced that the civil law approach based on the right of privacy or the right of personality is expressed mainly either via a duality, reflecting the extra-patrimonial and the patrimonial attributes to one’s own image, or via the recognition of a single right with a dual nature. On the other hand, the protection granted to the right to one’s own image in the United Kingdom is piecemeal in nature, since it is based on a broad interpretation of the classic torts of breach of confidence and passing off, which fails to provide a coherent and effective legal framework for protecting the intangible asset of a person’s image, both in terms of its dignitary and its economic identity. After pinpointing the major differences in terms of protecting the right to one’s own image in Europe, the emphasis is placed on the relationship between image rights and copyright law.