Vogel on Choice of Law relating to Personality Rights

As a result of the global spread of media content, cross-border infringements of personality rights have increased significantly over  recent years. However, the question of which law applies in these instances remains largely answered (see, for example, our online symposium as well as various posts). A recently published monograph, “Das Medienpersönlichkeitsrecht im Internationalen Privatrecht”, takes up the long-running debate about a Europe-wide harmonisation of national conflict of law rules relating to personality rights. The author Benedikt Vogel,  engages in a comparative analysis of media-related infringements in substantive and conflict of laws  in Germany, France and the UK.  The author develops a new proposal for a conflict of law rule for personality rights infringements. In doing so he takes into account the (failed) negotiations preceding the adoption of the Rome II Regulation which brought again to light the need for flexibility and compromise in all member states. The proposal aims to satisfy all conflicting interests: those of the plaintiff and the media, those of the courts in view of practicability and efficiency and, last not least, the public’s interest in protecting the freedom of expression and information in Europe.

The book has been published by Nomos and is written in German. Further information (in German) is available here.