Kuipers on Cross-Border Infringement of Personality Rights

Jan-Jaap Kuipers, an Assistant Professor of European Law at the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, has written an interesting article on cross-broder infringement of personality rights. It has just been published in the German Law Journal and can be downloaded here. The abstract reads as follows:

Globalization has led to the emergence of broadcasting services and books aimed at a global audience. Authors of books, journals, and articles have gained readers worldwide. Due to the Internet, the spreading of ideas on a global level has never been easier. The other side of the coin is that authors run a risk of being exposed to civil proceedings in many jurisdictions. What is considered to be proactive journalism, or a provocative academic comment in some jurisdictions is considered to be libel or defamation in others. Although both the freedom of speech and the right to private life have received constitutional protection in all Member States, different balances have been struck between the competing fundamental rights. In a cross-border context, the infringement of the right to private life by foreign media becomes an international horizontal conflict between fundamental rights. The issue is therefore extremely sensitive and during the Rome II negotiations no consensus could be reached on the appropriate conflict of laws rule. The infringement of personality rights was therefore excluded from the scope of that Regulation. The present paper attempts to analyze to what extent it is necessary to revise the “defamation exclusion” of Rome II. If it would be necessary to include defamation in Rome II, what would be the most appropriate conflict of laws rule?