Sanoma received a bill of more than 100,000 euros from the legal costs of the screenshot dispute. The Market Court issued a decision today.
F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen The publication of the snowman photo was expensive for Sanoma Media Finland, which publishes Helsingin Sanom.
The Market Court ordered the media company to pay Räikkönen 7,000 euros as compensation in accordance with the Copyright Act and also compensate Räikkönen’s legal costs, which are almost 111,000 euros.
The court ruled that the company did not have the right to publish the picture on Räikkönen’s Instagram service in the online version of Helsingin Sanomat in a story titled “Kimi Räikkönen amused her followers and posed with the ‘third brother’ made of snow”.
On January 13, 2021, HS published a small story based on the picture presented by Räikkönen in the Instagram Stories section. In it, Räikkönen is standing next to a snowman in a winter yard and the text “the third brother” is in the picture.
The picture published by HS in its story was therefore a screenshot from Räikkönen’s Instagram account, which has the feature of being visible for only 24 hours.
The court also ordered the newspaper to remove the story from public access.
So the legal question was whether, in connection with the case, a photograph enjoying protection under the Copyright Act of Räikkönen can be published without his permission.
According to market law, therefore, it was not allowed.
Essential the concept of case is a day’s event. It means an event or a situation that is objectively newsworthy and has an interest in information. So it’s not just a matter of public interest.
The court held that the snowman picture was not about describing the day’s event and therefore there was no right to use the picture.
It also considered the matter from the point of view of freedom of speech and stated that the press has the right to publish an online article also about matters such as the one in question based on its own editorial decision-making power.
“The only question is whether a photo published by Räikkönen, which enjoys protection under the copyright law, can be quoted in connection with an online article without his permission,” the court states.
The solution also includes a kind of proposal. According to the court, the magazine could also have described the content of the photo in a way other than using a screenshot, for example by explaining it verbally.
According to the law, the newspaper did not even have the so-called citation right to publish the picture, as it did.
“Lending has not taken place in accordance with good practice and to the extent necessary for the purpose,” it stated.
Case was not the first time that the Market Court has settled between Räikkönen and the media in a copyright-related screenshot dispute.
Read more: The screenshot cost the tabloids 70,000 euros, because Kimi Räikkönen’s gas station visit was not a “daily event” – The media see the policy as a threat to freedom of speech
The previous dispute was resolved by the market court in April 2021, when Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat were both sentenced to pay EUR 5,000 in compensation under the Copyright Act and court costs, which rose to EUR 65,000.
Both magazines published a story based on the Stories section of Räikkönen’s Instagram.
In April 2020, Räikkönen was at a gas station with his family and published a picture in which he had covered part of the name of the gas station’s product. Only “hot mint” remained. It was a reference to Räikkönen’s wife Minttu.
Both magazines did a story about Räikkönen’s joke, and included a screenshot of the picture as part of the story.
The concept of a daily event was essential in these solutions as well.
According to the market court, the stories were not about the description of the day’s event, and thus the newspapers had no right to publish the photo.
According to it, Räikkönen’s fame does not make every event in his everyday life a daily event, although these may be of interest to tabloid readers.
Thus, there was no democratic society-based reason for publishing the screenshot, the Market Court stated at the time.
The news is being completed.
Helsingin Sanomat and Ilta-Sanomat both belong to the Sanoma group.
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