Guernsey's Image Rights Legislation

Guernsey Letter Box

Author Alan Ford

Jane Lambert

Guernsey is a tiny island in the English Channel with a population of 66,000 and a land area of 63 square kilometres. As you can see from the picture above, it has blue pillar boxes and also, so I am told, blue phone boxes. It is all that is left of the Duchy of Normandy which was lost to France by King John.  It has its own language called Guernésiais which is spoken by over 1,000 people (mainly OAPs) though English is the language of business, government and everyday life.

For me the most interesting thing about Guernsey is that ut has its own intellectual property law which I last discussed two years ago in "Guernsey's Patent Law".   This is made possible by The Intellectual Property (Enabling Provisions) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2004. S.1 of that statute provides:

"The States may by Ordinance make such provision as they think fit in relation to the law concerning intellectual property; and any such Ordinance may, without limitation, make provision in respect of the following matters and the following intellectual property rights -

(a) the implementation of -

(i) any international instrument relating to intellectual property or any aspect thereof (including, without limitation, the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, including Trade in Counterfeit Goods[b]),
(ii) any right, power, liability, obligation, prohibition or restriction created or arising, or any remedy or procedure provided for, by or under any such international instrument,
(b) copyright,
(c) patents and utility models,
(d) trade marks and service marks (registered and unregistered),
(e) design rights (registered and unregistered),
(f) database rights,
(g) biotechnological rights,
(h) plant variety rights,
(i) semi-conductor, and integrated circuit topography, rights,
(j) intellectual property rights in respect of the information society,
(k) geographical indications,
(l) domain names,
(m) image rights,
(n) the registration of intellectual property rights (whether by way of first registration, re-registration, filing, recognition of rights granted in any other jurisdiction, or otherwise),
(o) the administration, protection, assessment and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including (without limitation) provision as to -

(i) the examination of, and searching in respect of, applications,
(ii) appeals in relation to registration decisions,
(iii) modes of civil enforcement,
(iv) modes of criminal enforcement,
(v) remedies in respect of contraventions of intellectual property rights, and
(vi) the establishment of a tribunal and a panel of persons from whom the members of the tribunal are to be drawn, and otherwise as to the administration of justice in relation to intellectual property rights,
(p) the jurisdiction and powers of the courts of the Bailiwick (including, without limitation, provision that the Royal Court shall have jurisdiction and powers throughout the Bailiwick), and the constitution and procedure of those courts, in relation to intellectual property rights and matters set out in paragraph (n),
(q) exceptions and derogations from the enforcement and applicability of intellectual property rights on social, community, ethical and other grounds,
(r) the establishment of an Intellectual Property Office (by whatever name called, and whether as a department of the States or of any committee thereof or as a separate legal entity) with responsibility for the registration of intellectual property rights and the administration of this Law and any Ordinance under it, and with such rights, liabilities, powers, functions and capacity as may be specified by Ordinance, and
(s) the vesting of any right, liability, power and property in the Intellectual Property Office."

One of the folks who practise Guernsey intellectual property law is Kate Storey. I first met Kate when she was an associate with Cobbetts which in my humble opinion is the best intellectual property law firm in Manchester by a country mile and she was one of the best instructing solicitors I have ever had.  Her instructions were always precise and contained exactly the information that I needed and no more.   Sadly, Kate has left Manchester for Guernsey and now works for Collas Crill, a Channel Islands firm with offices in London and Singapore.   On 19 Nov 2012 Collas Crill gave a talk in Manchester on The Image Rights (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Ordinance, 2012 which came into force on 3 Dec 2012.   I attended at Kate's invitation.

Kate and her colleagues have written quite a lot of articles on this topic and helped to draft the legislation.   It would therefore be otiose if not presumptuous of me to duplicate their work.  I would commend in particular their FAQ which defines image rights as

"property rights acquired by the registration of a “personality” in Guernsey’s Register of Personalities and Images, which gives the proprietor of the registered personality exclusive rights in the images associated with or registered against that registered personality." personality as

"a person’s essential brand, i.e. the name by which the person is known. To be registrable under the IR Ordinance, it must be the personality of one of five types of person or subject, referred to as the “personnage”
and personnage (which I understand to be a Guernésiais word) as "the person or subject whose personality is registered."  A personality can only be registered if it is one of the following:
(a)    a natural person, i.e. a human being who is alive or has died within the period of 100 years preceding the date of filing the application for registration of the personality,
(b)    a legal person, i.e. a body corporate or other body having legal personality that is currently in existence, registered or incorporated or has ceased to be in existence, registered, or incorporated within the period of 100 years preceding the date of filing the application for registration of the personality,
(c)    a joint personality, being two or more natural persons or legal persons who are or who are publicly perceived to be intrinsically linked and who together have a joint personality, e.g. a comedy double act,
(d)    a group, being two or more natural persons or legal persons who are or who are publicly perceived to be linked in a common purpose and who together form a collective group or team, e.g. a sports team or pop group, or
(e)    a fictional character of a human or non human, e.g . Popeye (human), Superman (non human), Mickey Mouse (non human).
Image rights therefore fill the gap between the protection afforded to a celebrity by copyright, registration of a trade mark and the law of passing off.

As you can see from Collas Crill's schedule of fees registration is not cheap.   The Guernsey Image Rights Registry charges between £1,000 and £5,000 for a personality application depending on the nature of the personnage plus £100 to £200 for each registered image and there are professional fees on top of that.   S.97 of the Ordinance provides for a register of "image rights agents" which it implemented by reg. 5 of The Image Rights (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Regulations, 2012.   Reg 5 (4) (b) of those regulations require an image rights agent to have a business address in Guernsey which will rule out most UK patent and trade mark attorneys and law firms.

Everybody who attended the Manchester seminar was given a copy of the 2012 Ordinance by Collas Crill which I read on the tram back to Mumps.   It is not a particularly long statute with 117 sections and no schedules.   It seems to be a mashup of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994.  The first 5 sections with the definition of image rights, personality and personnage which I have discussed above.   The next 5 concern registrability and there appear to be absolute and relative grounds of refusal as in trade marks.   Sections 11 to 13 provide for applications for registration and 14 to 26 the registration procedure.   Sections 27 to 30 cover infringement - juicy! - 41 to 50 infringement proceedings.   As with copyright there are a number of exceptions which are set out in sections 31 to 40 and many of these seem to be the same as for copyright.   Sections 50 to 60 are concerned with image rights as property and sections.61 to 64 with licensing.  Also like copyright there are moral rights which are covered by sections 65 to 77.  The rest of the Ordinance is take up with the registry and register, image rights agents, criminal offences and miscellaneous and general provisions.

For me, as a barrister the most interesting provision was s.41. S.41 (1) provides:

"An infringement of a registered personality's image rights is actionable by the proprietor of the image rights."
"Infringement" is defined by s.27:

"(1) The image rights attributable to a registered personality ("registered personality's image rights") are infringed by the use of an image for a commercial purpose or a financial or economic benefit -

(a) where, because the image is identical or similar to a protected image of that registered personality, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, which includes the likelihood of association with that registered personality, or
(b) which is identical or similar to a protected image of that registered personality and the use of the image, without due cause -

(i) takes unfair advantage of the distinctive character or repute of the personnage, or
(ii) is detrimental to the distinctive character or repute of the personnage, or the value of that registered personality or that registered personality's images,
without the consent of the proprietor of the image rights. (2) In this Ordinance, "protected image" means an image which -

(a) is distinctive (see section 28),
(b) has actual or potential value (see section 29), and
(c) satisfies the requirements for registration of an image under this Ordinance (whether or not it is registered). For the avoidance of doubt, an image which is declared invalid or the registration of which is revoked under this Ordinance, is not a protected image.
(3) For the purposes of this section a person uses an image if, in particular (but without limitation), the person-

(a) uses the image in a communication to the public,
(b) uses the image in connection with sponsorship,
(c) uses the image for the purposes of marketing or endorsing goods, services, activities or events,
(d) affixes the image to goods or to the packaging thereof,
(e) offers or exposes goods for sale, puts them on the market or stocks them for those purposes under the image, or offers or supplies services under the image,
(f) imports or exports goods under the image,
(g) uses the image on business papers,
(h) incorporates the image in a flag, banner, poster or any other similar article, or
(i) uses a registered image as an internet domain name or as a company name. (4) A person who applies an image to material intended to be used for labelling or packaging goods, as a business paper, or for the purposes of sponsorship or marketing or endorsing goods, services, activities or events, shall be treated as a party to any use of the material (including electronic material) which infringes the registered personality's image rights if the person knew or had reason to believe that such use of the image was not duly authorised by the proprietor of the image rights or a licensee.
(5) References in this Ordinance to the infringement of a registered personality's image rights are to any such infringement of the image rights of the proprietor of such rights.

(6) The use of an image includes the use of part of an image." S.41 (2) sets out the remedies which appear to have been cribbed from our own Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

"In an action for infringement all such relief by way of damages, injunctions, accounts or otherwise is available to the proprietor of the image rights as is available in respect of the infringement of any other property right."

 
Finally, there is a threats action (s.47) and remedies for infringing moral rights (s.77)..

At the talk, I asked about the cost of enforcement and was told that like all litigation in Guernsey intellectual property litigation is expensive.  I also asked about the expertise of the local judges and was told that if there were ever an IP case in the Guernsey courts they would fly in an English patent silk to hear it.

So there you have it, folks. Given that Guernsey is a very small place and that very few other countries have comparable legislation I struggle to see why anybody would spend a shed full of lolly on a Guernsey image right.   The obvious answer is that there must be some kind of tax benefit but when businesses and individuals are pilloried for tax avoidance one wonders whether it is worthwhile.  If you are a Premier League footballer, comic, internet business or other celebrity who doesn't care a damn about British public opinion and you want to learn more about this law or indeed Guernsey intellectual property in general  call me on 0161 850 0080 or send me a message through my contact form. You can also follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, twitter and Xing.   

As this is my first post of 2013 I wish all .my readers, clients and anyone else who may read this article a very happy and prosperous New Year.