Online supermarket Picnic does not have to pay compensation to driver Max Verstappen, the Amsterdam court has determined. Verstappen demanded compensation from Picnic for allegedly violating his portrait right. He was previously successful in court action, but the court therefore rejected that judgment.
The driver went to court in 2016 because of a video that Picnic had posted, which showed a lookalike from Verstappen. In the video, he ignored a car from competitor supermarket Jumbo – which Verstappen had advertised – and got into a Picnic delivery cart.
According to Picnic, it was a video to motivate the staff. The images were taken offline by the supermarket when it appeared that the driver objected to it. In 2018, the judge ruled that Picnic should pay 150,000 euros in compensation to Verstappen.
Persiflage
The driver found the compensation too low and appealed. But the court sees the film as a parody, where it is clear that it is not Verstappen itself.
Moreover, it is not a tort, because the video does not affect the honor and reputation of the driver, nor his business interests.
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