I am privileged to serve as a legal expert with Legit Ng news and at the forum, one of the recent questions that was thrown to me was; “A popular bank used my photo for an advert without my consent, can I sue them”?
Here is my answer!
The direct and straightforward answer to this question is “Yes, you have the right of action to sue the bank or any other person not just for infringing on your image copyright by making use of your intellectual property without your consent but for also invading your privacy as constitutionally provided.
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By the provisions of intellectual property laws, every individual is entitled to be the full owner of his image, his slogan or name (if trademarked) and his invention and any other person or organization who wants to make use of a person’s intellectual property, especially for advertisement or commercial purposes must do so with the full consent, permission and approval of the owner, originator or inventor.
I remember in 2022, a stranger walked into my office and narrated how a popular bank in Nigeria, came to the market where she sells to take some pictures of the market and of the market traders; she sells food groceries in Wuse market, Abuja. The bank took some pictures of some market sellers and took her pictures as well in her outlet. She was surprised to subsequently see her pictures on billboards around the city Centres erected by the banks for their commercial campaigns without any prior conversation with her or even asking for her approval for the advertisement.
I wrote to the bank demanding that the billboard be taken down and the woman, who is now my client, be compensated for the advertisement or we take the matter to court. The bank listened to the voice of reason and complied with our terms.
Same 2022, it made headlines that Sabinus and his lawyer (which is me) dragged Peak Milk and Gala to court demanding one billion naira compensation for using his image and his trademarked slogan for advertisement without his consent. Acting as Sabinus’s lawyer, I merely brought an action in court demanding fair compensation for the intellectual property infringement of my client Mr Chukwuemeka Emmanuel Aka Sabinus. We have settled out of court with one of the companies and we are still before the court with one of the companies hence why I won’t delve so much into it until the court makes final pronouncement on the matter.
Last year, precisely on the 14th of August 2023, Palmpay Ltd (popularly known as Palmpay), a renowned Neo bank carrying operation in Nigeria made a post on their official X (formerly Twitter) page. The post was captioned; “morning mood when you fund your cowry wallet on Palmpay App”. This post was attached with an image of Mr Darlington Achakpo, Aka Speed Darlington/Akpi, a famous Nigerian musician and entertainer.
Mr Speed Darlington retained my service as his lawyer to help him seek Judicial remedy for the infringement. We filed an action in court seeking 200 million Naira in damages for the infringement.
Palmpay Ltd subsequently admitted their wrongdoings and reached out to us for an out-of-court settlement. They fairly compensated my client Mr Speed Darlington for the breach.
All these examples which I was personally involved as the lawyer to those whose intellectual properties have been used for advertisement without their consent show that you have the right to seek damages in court and the court will definitely grant you one if your picture or any of intellectual properties was used for advertisement without your consent. You deserve to be fairly compensated for it.