The Maritime and Commercial High Court in Denmark ordered Hillside (New Media Malta), owner of Bet365 to pay nearly $700,000.00 to over 20 Danish sports personalities who had their names and images used without permission. The Court found that 23 athletes had been involved in this process, and their names and images were posted on social media sites without their consent.
The amount the company must pay is DKK 4,7 million, or just over $692,000. The Court stated that under the Marketing Act currently in force in the country, compensation was given to each athlete in view of the violations.
The Maritime and Commercial Court stated that the violations occurred between February 21, 2019, and March 11, 2020. Bet365 posted various posts on its social media pages, including Twitter and Facebook, that featured images and names of Danish athletes. The Court claimed, however, that the posts were posted “without consent” or in violation of the regulations.
” Between 21 February 2019 and 11 March 2021 BET365 published a number posts on Facebook and Twitter that reproduced without consent the names or photos of athletes.
Read the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court’s ruling against Hillside
The operator is ordered to pay compensation
The court disagreed with Bet365’s claim that the use was “editorial”. In its ruling, the Maritime and Commercial Court of Denmark stated that the images and names of the athletes were used in a “marketing context”, which is why monetary compensation was imposed on the company. The majority of compensations ranged between DKK 50,000 (7,400 dollars) and DKK 100 000 ($14,800). In some cases, compensations were higher when an athlete’s picture was used multiple times.
Christian Eriksen was the biggest winner of compensation. He is a famous Danish soccer player who plays for Manchester United in the English Premier League. The court found that Bet365’s social media posts featured his name or image 29 times, and therefore he received a DKK 1,5 million ($220 600) compensation. Bet365 also had to pay Kasper Schmeichel DKK 500 000 ($73 600) for appearing 10 times on different social media posts. The famous athlete Simon Thorup Kjaer received DKK 300000 ($44 130) as compensation.
