Personality Rights

Personality rights are legal entitlements that protect an individual's ability to control the commercial use of their identity, including their name, likeness, voice, and other personal characteristics. Unlike copyright, which protects the expression of an idea, personality rights safeguard the commercial value of a person's identity itself. In the context of enterprise risk management, infringement of these rights constitutes a significant legal and reputational risk, governed by principles found in regulations like the GDPR (where likeness can be personal data) and national civil codes. For instance, under Taiwan's Civil Code Articles 18 and 195, individuals can seek remedies for unauthorized use. Proper management of personality rights is a key component of a robust compliance framework, especially with the rise of generative AI technologies that can easily replicate human likeness and voice.

Applying personality rights in enterprise risk management involves translating legal principles into concrete operational controls. Key steps include: 1) Risk Identification: Conduct a thorough audit of all corporate assets, including marketing materials, AI training datasets, and customer testimonials, to identify any use of personal likenesses or voices. 2) Consent Management: Establish a formal framework for obtaining and managing explicit, informed, and revocable consent, compliant with standards like GDPR's Article 7. This involves using clear consent forms and maintaining an auditable trail. 3) Technical Controls: Implement Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems with metadata tagging for rights, usage scope, and expiration dates. Enforce a mandatory compliance review workflow before any content is published. For example, a global CPG company must ensure the model release forms for a campaign cover usage in AI-powered virtual avatars. This approach can increase compliance rates to nearly 100% and significantly reduce infringement-related legal costs.

Taiwan enterprises face three primary challenges. First, the lack of a dedicated statute for personality rights, which are principally governed by Taiwan's Civil Code, creates legal ambiguity. To mitigate this, companies should adopt a conservative internal policy that requires explicit consent for any use of identifiable personal attributes. Second, there is a significant awareness gap regarding the risks associated with generative AI, where teams may unknowingly use copyrighted or personal data for model training. The solution is mandatory, cross-departmental training and a pre-project AI ethics checklist. Third, managing legacy assets with unclear consent documentation is a major hurdle. A risk-based approach is recommended: prioritize auditing high-visibility assets and cease using any materials with unverified rights. This phased strategy allows for systematic risk reduction without halting all operations.

Winners Consulting specializes in personality rights for Taiwan enterprises, delivering compliant management systems within 90 days. We have successfully assisted over 100 companies. Request a free consultation: https://winners.com.tw/contact