In the autumn of 2016 the pride of the Netherlands, Max
Verstappen, appeared in a television ad for Jumbo. In response Picnic,
a new online supermarket, broadcast a commercial via social media:
a Verstappen lookalike delivering shopping in a Picnic delivery
van.
Max's management claimed EUR 350,000 from Picnic for
broadcasting the commercial, and sought attachment for this amount,
but was unsuccessful. The preliminary relief judge rejected the
application for attachment, and the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam upheld the
decision on 2 May 2017. Those decisions show quite a negative view
on the chance of success of the underlying claim to portrait
rights. According to the Court of Appeal Picnic cannot invoke
portrait rights because the commercial is blatantly intended as a
parody. And even if portrait rights could be invoked, then the
management did not sufficiently substantiate the claim.
