Former F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen won against Sanoma in the Supreme Court.
Kimi Räikkönen’s appeal was processed in the Supreme Court. Antti Nikkanen
Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen won against Sanoma Media Finland in the Supreme Court. The KKO gave its preliminary decision in the matter regarding the Instagram picture today.
The case involved a picture published by Räikkönen in the story section of Instagram. In the picture published in 2020, Räikkönen was at the coffee shop’s checkout.
Räikkönen pleaded that publishing the screenshot without his consent violated his copyright. The Market Court previously held that Sanoma had no right to make the photograph available to the public without the Photographer’s consent.
The case handled by KKO was about whether Ilta-Sanom had the right to publish the photo based on the copyright law, i.e. the so-called right to cite or cite the press.
KKO considered that there is no right to publish. A public figure’s visit to a cafe or an Instagram update related to it is not a daily event within the meaning of the Copyright Act, in which case the screenshot could have been used based on the press’s citation right.
KKO did not change the previous decision of the market court. The Market Court had ordered Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehten to pay Räikkönen 5,000 euros in compensation and 65,000 euros in court costs.
In the case of Räikkönen, it was a picture published in the story section of Instagram, not a regular Instagram post.
Both Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti appealed the market court’s decisions to KKO. KKO therefore rejected Ilta-Sanomie’s appeal, and in its second decision it did not grant Iltalehti permission to appeal. Consequently, the decisions of the market court remain in force.