Newspaper using photograph without permission

[workywhippet]

Back in 2016, I was found guilty of a low level crime. It was that trivial, there was no mug shot taken. A newspaper used my Facebook profile picture in their article, without my permission or more importantly, my mother-in-laws permission, as she took the photograph. What are my rights and could my mother-in-law issue the newspaper with an invoice for its use? Thanks for your replies in advance

[AndyJ]

Hi wonkywhippet and welcome to the forum,

Yes, your mother-in-law would have had a claim for infringement of the copyright in her photograph of you being taken and used without permission. It doesn't matter that the photograph was publicly available on Facebook, and there was no public interest defence for having used it in connection with, presumbly, reporting your appearance in court.

However, if this happened in 2016 then it is now too late to bring the claim as there is a 6 year statutory limitation period (see section 2 of the Limitation Act 1980). If a copy of the photograph appeared on the newspaper's website, you can seek to apply your right to be forgotten, which would mean that the image must be removed from their digital archive. Obviously, nothing can be done about any print copies of the paper which still exist.

The right to be forgotten is enshrined in UK law (section 47 of the Data Protection Act 2018) thanks to Article 17 of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. The grounds on which you can require the image to be removed are that (a) it was illegally published in breach of copyright and (b), that due to the Rehabiliation of Offenders Act 1974, your conviction is now spent.

I hope this helps.

[AndyJ]

I should follow up on one point from your original question. Yes, there's no harm in your mother-in-law submitting an invoice, even though the statutory limitation period for suing the paper has passed. However don't be surprised if they try to fob her off with some mumbo-jumbo excuse. Although it is no longer a matter which can be heard in court, you need to be aware that there is no fair dealing defence for the purpose of news reporting as far as photographs are concerned. See Section 30(2) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.