Image / Likeness Release Form (England & Wales)

Overview

Anyone using a photograph, video, or other recording of an identifiable individual for marketing, publicity, or publication in England & Wales needs to think carefully about the legal basis for doing so — and the honest answer is that English law approaches this differently from French law. France has a well-established standalone doctrine, 'droit à l'image', rooted in article 9 of the Civil Code's protection of private life, which gives individuals a freestanding right to control the use of their image regardless of any other legal claim. England & Wales has no equivalent standalone image right. Instead, protection for a person's image and likeness is assembled from several different, narrower legal tools. First, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018: a photograph or video of an identifiable living individual is personal data, and using it (capturing, storing, publishing) is 'processing' that data. The organisation using the image needs a lawful basis for that processing under UK GDPR — for marketing use this is typically consent, which must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous, and must be capable of being withdrawn as easily as it was given. Consent obtained through a signed release form of the kind provided here is the standard, low-risk way of establishing that lawful basis. Second, the equitable action for breach of confidence, developed by the courts (notably following Campbell v MGN Ltd [2004] UKHL 22) into a broader tort protecting 'misuse of private information' — this can be engaged where a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the circumstances the image was taken (a private setting, a sensitive context), even without an established contractual or data protection breach. Third, passing off — a much narrower, commercial tort that protects a person's established goodwill from being misappropriated, historically used by celebrities and public figures to challenge unauthorised commercial use of their image or persona implying an endorsement that does not exist. It is not available to the general public and requires proof of significant existing commercial reputation. In practice, this means a signed release form remains the safest and most practical route for any organisation in England using a person's image commercially: it documents informed consent for UK GDPR purposes and, by setting out exactly what use is permitted, substantially reduces the risk of a breach of confidence or reputational complaint. When to use it: whenever an individual's photograph, video, or voice recording will be used for marketing, website content, social media, advertising, or publicity purposes. Parties: the Organisation (using the image) and the Subject (the individual photographed or recorded), or a parent or guardian where the Subject is a child. Key clauses: a precise description of the image/recording and the circumstances in which it was captured, an explicit UK GDPR consent statement, the scope of permitted use (channels, geography, duration — indefinite use should be expressly stated if intended, since vague terms invite dispute), the right to withdraw consent at any time (noting that withdrawal is not retrospective for material already published before the withdrawal), and — where the Subject is a child — signature by a parent or legal guardian. Mistakes to avoid: assuming a general 'model release' concept from other jurisdictions maps neatly onto English law — it does not, and framing it as UK GDPR consent (rather than an undefined 'image right') gives it a much firmer legal footing; leaving the scope of use vague, which increases the risk that use beyond what the subject reasonably expected will be challenged as a data protection or confidence issue; and failing to obtain consent from a parent or guardian when the subject is a child.