Facts
On January 8, 1997, the security guard Christoph Meili took possession of various documents in the shredding room of UBS in Zurich, including two folios with the inscriptions "Directions-Protokoll No XIII" and "Protokoll des Bankdirectoriums". On January 13, 1997, the journalist Gisela Blau Guggenheim met with Meili and had herself photographed together with the two folios. The black and white photograph shows Meili from the front, looking directly into the camera, holding the two folios in front of him.
The plaintiff Gisela Blau Guggenheim filed a lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) because it had used the photograph without her permission in its film "Nazi Gold". The District Court of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the claim, as it denied the photograph the copyright protection of a work. The plaintiff appealed against this decision to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the District Court. It stated that while the photograph represented a mental creation, it lacked the required individual character. The framing, the camera angle, and the lighting were banal and corresponded to what anyone would choose in such a situation. The way Meili presented the folios was also obvious. The shot was unique only because of its subject, i.e., the incident documented on January 8, 1997. However, this alone was not sufficient for copyright protection.
The…