A Seoul court ordered a doctor to compensate a patient for publicly displaying pictures of the patient before and after plastic surgery without notification.
The Seoul Central District Court said the plastic surgeon must pay 30 million won ($25,950) for psychological damage after the photos were publicized for promotional use.
The patient in her twenties received nose surgery in 2009.
She later found out that the plastic surgeon who conducted the operation posted before and after pictures of her on the internet to advertise his hospital.
She sued the doctor for mental trauma and a violation of her portrait rights, demanding 40 million won in damages.
The doctor rejected the patient’s demand that he delete the photos, saying that he had not violated her portrait rights because it was impossible to discern who the person in the picture was since he had blurred her eye area.
The court ruled that the photos were part of her portrait rights and that using the images for commercial purposes without the consent of the patient constitutes an infringement of her rights.
“The doctor must pay compensation as it is possible to distinguish who the person in the picture is and the patient who was a would-be actress was psychologically shocked by its publication,” the court said in the ruling.
It said the doctor is also liable to compensation as he ignored her request to remove the photos.