14 - Case 11: The popular TV presenter

Summary

Case

A popular TV presenter with a very distinctive voice once did a voiceover on some adverts for a coffee company. After he had made it clear that he did not want to do any more of these adverts, the company produced a radio commercial in which his voice had been imitated by another person. Can the TV presenter sue the company for an injunction and compensation?

Discussions

Austria

Operative rules

The presenter can claim for forbearance and for compensation under the law of unjust enrichment. He also might have a claim for noneconomic damages. Economic damages are probably not recoverable in this case.

Descriptive formants

A right to one's own spoken words and to the protection of one's characteristic voice against imitation can be established on the basis of a consideration of other personality rights and constitutional aspects (above all Art. 10 ECHR) and a general weighing of interests, combined with § 16 ABGB.

In 2001, the OLG Wien (Higher Regional Court of Vienna) passed judgment on a similar case, tackling the same problems as the case at hand. The court had to decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction in relation to a radio commercial for a political campaign in which the voices of actors from a well-known television series were imitated. In another decision addressing the same legal dispute, the OGH approved the protection of someone's characteristic voice against exploitation through use in a commercial.