Abstract
This article analyzes some precedents of the Supreme Court of Japan for cases on taking or publishing portrait photographs.
First, the concept of “freedom in one's private life” defined by the Supreme Court should be regarded as prevention against interference by police powers and distinguished from the Right to Dignity. Second, in an intrusion of the press case, the Supreme Court reversed the High Court decision to replace a presumption of illegality with an overall judgment. Third, the Supreme Court acknowledged an economic aspect of identity in a recent decision that mentioned “proper commercial value of the portrait” and established a standard for judging appropriation of “power to attract customers” in a Right of Publicity case.
