IN BRIEF
In the wake of international football star Lionel Messi's
recent fine and jail sentence associated with the earnings from his
image rights, some may be curious as to whether image rights exist
in Australia. In simple terms, image rights as they apply in Europe
or the USA do not exist in the same manner in Australia. However an
individual's image can be protected and exploited in Australia
using a patchwork of legislative and common law provisions.
Lionel Messi, an Argentine professional footballer who plays as
a forward for Spanish football club FC Barcelona, was recently
sentenced to 21 months imprisonment and fined approximately €2
million in Spain for using tax havens to conceal earnings from his
image rights. Image rights principally mean the right to control
the use of an individual's image. Understandably, they can be
quite lucrative for celebrities through merchandise and
endorsements as major companies will often wish to associate
themselves with a
