Copyright law prioritized artistic freedom over personality rights Summary suggested that the superstar was directly involved in Tina Turner brought a lawsuit against the organizers of the production. a tribute show titled ”Simply the Best - Die Tina Turner The dispute regarded whether the artistic freedom Story,” seeking injunctive relief. She claimed that the according to German copyright law of the Tina Turner show’s name and promotional materials created the lookalike outweighed the real Tina Turner’s personality impression that she would be performing or endorsing rights to the use of her image. the production. Even though the dispute mainly was assessed under At issue was whether the Tina Turner impersonator in articles in the German Civil Code, the Court specifically the show closely resembled the original performer, and stated that the evaluation of the interests of the parties whether the advertising posters featuring her photo in the case is the same as the one made after GDPR, and the title ”Simply The Best - The Tina Turner Story” Article 6(1)(f). The photo of Tina Turner used on the posters The Decision of the German Supreme Court The German Supreme Court denied Tina Turner’s claim for injunctive relief as the impersonator’s artistic freedom outweighed the personality rights of Tina Turner, according to German copyright law. This decision was made after a balancing exercise, similar to that required by legitimate interests as legal basis (GDPR, Article 6(1)(f)). Published: 24-02-2022 Journal number: I ZR 2/21 Tags: 01 Legal basis and principles of processing 65