Children’s photos online? Both parents must agree

The OLG Oldenburg has decided that the publication of photos of a child on the Internet is a matter of considerable importance and therefore both parents must agree.

In the present case, which the court had to decide, the parents of the six-year-old child are divorced. The mother has the right of residence over the daughter, otherwise the joint custody shall apply. The daughter lives with her mother on the farm the new husband of the mother. He runs a website for the farm. There he published photos of the child for advertising purposes. The girl’s father objected. He wanted to prohibit publication and applied for legal aid.

The regional court rejected the application for legal aid. The applicant objected to this with an immediate complaint.

The OLG Oldenburg rejected the immediate complaint as unfounded.

In the opinion of the Higher Regional Court, the consent of the person depicted for publication is in principle necessary. This includes posting photos on a website. In the case of minors, this would require the consent of both parents, provided that there is joint custody. Consent can only be given by mutual agreement. Conversely, it follows, conversely, that there can only be a court action against an unauthorised publication by mutual agreement.

The Higher Regional Court considered that the daughter’s right was in high jeopardy. When photos were published on the Internet, the photos would be made available to an unlimited group of people. If the mother did not agree to the judicial action, the father would have to have the consent replaced by a decision of the court.

However, since the man chose the wrong procedure in the present case, he was unsuccessful here. He wanted to sue the new husband instead of having the mother’s lack of consent replaced.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.