The German Federal Court of Justice is tending towards upholding a lower court ruling - to the effect that artistic freedom trumps the right to a name and image - that led to it throwing out an action brought by US singer Tina Turner about a poster used to promote a tribute act.
In an initial opinion, presiding judge Thomas Koch indicated on Thursday that the court was likely to "regard as correct" an earlier ruling by a Cologne district court in favour of Bavarian-based promoter Cofo Entertainment.
At the centre of the row is a show entitled "Simply the Best - the Tina Turner Story" in which Dorothea "Coco" Fletcher, a Turner double, performs the 81-year-old US star's hits.
Turner's concern is that the image, alongside her name, could lead people to believe mistakenly that she herself was appearing on stage.
"What displeases Ms Turner in the whole business is that she would like to be in charge of the rights to her person," Turner's lawyer, Kerstin Schmitt, said. "She would like to decide when her name and image are used for commercial purposes."
The point at issue was that the show was a tribute and and that Turner had nothing to do with it, Schmitt said.
Cofo Entertainment lawyer Brunhilde Ackermann said: "If a show falls under artistic freedom, it must be promoted correspondingly, and in fact by the main actress who appears in the show."
The court should apply the standard of a reasonably well-informed person and not one who is "chronically stupid and sees everything superficially," Ackermann said.
