Tina Turner
Photo: Getty Images, Solomon NJie. All rights reserved.
In the past, Tina Turner had sued a concert promoter, Cofo Entertainment, for an injunction over a poster. The revision of a judgment has now been rejected by the Federal Court of Justice, as stated in a statement from the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on Thursday (February 24).
It’s about a tribute show in which Dorothea ‘Coco’ Fletcher plays the singer. A photo of Fletcher can be seen on the poster for the show. Below it is “Simply The Best – The Tina Turner Story”. Turner had sued because the singer in the picture resembled her very much in pose and appearance. According to her lawyers, the poster could give the impression that Turner is on stage herself.
How much similarity is allowed?
The Federal Court of Justice has now made it clear that in this case artistic freedom outweighs personal rights. The court made it clear in its opinion that advertising in this form would only have been illegal if the impression was made clear that Turner himself supported the show or was involved. However, this cannot be seen on the posters and is therefore not ambiguous.
The district court of Cologne had already agreed with Turner at the beginning of 2020. However, the judgment was overturned by the Higher Regional Court of Cologne. In the statement at that time, reference was also made to the higher value of artistic freedom compared to violated personal rights.