A Study On The Merchandising Of The Personality Right

With the development of the commodity economy and effect of the changes onthe consumption economy to the productions and life of the population, the trend ofcommercializing of things that we rely on for survival and even the rights is gettingincreasingly obvious. In this market economy, the tremendous influence of thepersonality mark, such as the names and images of public figures, is given a newcommercial value by the consumers. Although merchandising personality mark hasstarted and is continuously developing, the related system is not getting establishedquick enough to cope with the change. Currently, there are endless disputeshappening due to the violation of personality rights. Through the fundamentaldiscussion on the rationality of personality rights, and the study of foreign legalsystem combined with the current China’s situation of legislation, the specificsystem of China can be constructed and perfected. The paper elaborated it from thefollowing four aspects:The first part: An overview of the merchandising of personality rights. Firstly, adetailed explanation on the concept of the merchandising of personality rightssystem was stated. Secondly, the rationality of merchandising of personality rightswas explained based on three aspects–reality, theory and law. Lastly, this paper willdiscuss the development trends of the merchandising of personality rights system.The second part: Study on foreign legal system of merchandising of personalityrights. Research and analysis was done on the American dual rights system, theGermany unification of rights, the UK’s litigation system towards infringement ofpersonality rights and Japanese commercial image rights system. Advantages anddisadvantages of each system was compared and selected a relatively sound system.The third part: Analysis on the current legislation of merchandising ofpersonality rights system and its shortcomings. Clauses that protect personalityrights were picked out from Law of Personality Rights, Law of Copyright, Law of Trademark and Law of Anti-unfair competition. Together with the shortcomingsfound in the current legislation situation, it can be perfected.The fourth part: The design of the merchandising of personality rights system inChina. Considering the China’s specific national conditions, a suitable model ischosen based on sound foreign system. It is constructed based on the tort liabilitylaw, unjust enrichment system and other aspects of personality right of claim.