▸ Area 03
Personality rights & reputation
A public accusation, a hurtful publication, or a coordinated campaign can cause, within hours, damage that years in court can scarcely repair — the legal response cannot wait.
Personality rights and press law protect individuals against attacks on their honor, reputation, privacy, and image, while preserving freedom of expression and information. These two imperatives are in permanent tension: defamation, insult, invasion of privacy, breaches of the presumption of innocence, online harassment. The law on freedom of the press (loi du 29 juillet 1881) — whose limitation periods and procedural rules are extremely strict — governs most of this field in France.
The firm acts on behalf of both the person facing allegations and the victim, in criminal, civil, administrative, or commercial proceedings depending on the nature of the dispute. Matters handled cover a range of contexts: public figures facing defamation proceedings, professionals or researchers targeted by strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP suits), and individuals who are victims of online disparagement or hate speech. The media dimension is often inseparable from the legal one: the firm advises on crisis communication in coordination with communications teams, ensuring that public statements do not compromise the legal strategy.
Online reputation is a complementary field: the referencing of defamatory content, the right to be forgotten, the liability of platforms and hosting providers, and disputes relating to the handling of personal data all fall within the firm's scope of practice.
Matters
- Defamation and insult (print, broadcast, online media)
- Invasion of privacy and violations of the right to one's image
- Breaches of the presumption of innocence
- Online harassment and online hate speech
- Incitement to discrimination
- Disparagement and harm to commercial reputation
- Online reputation — right to be forgotten — de-referencing
- Liability of media, communications, and social media actors
- Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) — defense of victims
- GDPR disputes — handling of personal data
- Media, communications, and advertising law
- Referrals to the ARPP and the ARCOM
Forums
- Tribunal judiciaire (civil and criminal divisions)
- Court of Appeal
- Commercial court (disparagement, unfair competition)
- Conseil d'État and administrative courts (violations committed by public authorities)
- ARPP (French advertising self-regulatory authority)
- ARCOM (French audiovisual and digital communication regulator)
- CNIL (French data protection authority) (disputes relating to personal data)
Frequently asked questions
What should be done in response to a defamatory publication or an online invasion of privacy?
An immediate response often determines the course of the proceedings. Evidence should be preserved (dated screenshots, a formal record by a judicial officer) before the content is removed or altered. The law on freedom of the press imposes very short limitation periods — around three months from the date of first publication — after which the action is no longer admissible. An initial conversation makes it possible to characterize the facts and identify the applicable time limits.
What is the difference between defamation and insult?
Defamation consists of alleging or imputing a specific fact that harms a person's honor or reputation. Insult, by contrast, is an outrageous expression, a term of contempt, or an invective that does not impute a specific fact. The distinction has significant procedural consequences, notably on the ability of the person who made the statements to raise the defense of truth for defamatory statements of fact — a defense that does not exist for insult.
How can one defend against a SLAPP suit?
A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is legal action brought not to obtain compensation for genuine harm, but to deter a person — journalist, researcher, whistleblower, elected official — from exercising their freedom of expression. French and European law provide specific protective mechanisms: damages for abusive proceedings, a civil fine, and, at the European level, recent instruments designed to counter such practices. An initial conversation makes it possible to assess whether an action brought against someone fits this pattern.
Can crisis communication harm legal proceedings?
Yes. A poorly calibrated public statement can affect legal strategy, particularly if it implicitly acknowledges contested facts, reveals information covered by the secrecy of the investigation, or complicates the relationship with the courts. The firm advises on maintaining consistency between crisis communication and legal defense, in coordination with communications teams.
Can old content be removed from the internet?
The digital right to be forgotten allows, under certain conditions, for content to be de-referenced by search engines, notably where the information is no longer relevant, is inaccurate, or causes a disproportionate invasion of privacy. This right is not absolute and has limits, particularly where the public interest in the information prevails. The CNIL can be approached if a search engine refuses to comply.