Background
Former professional football player José Jadílson dos Santos Silva sued Panini Brasil Ltda. over the unauthorized inclusion of his photograph in the commemorative sticker album “São Paulo Histórico.” The album was released on January 27, 2012, and remained commercially available. Silva sought R$30,000 in material damages and R$10,000 in moral damages, alleging that he learned of the publication around June 2018 and filed suit on November 10, 2021.
The trial court rejected Panini’s limitation defense, found that prior authorization was required, and awarded Silva R$10,000 in moral damages while denying material damages for lack of proof. The São Paulo Court of Justice affirmed, reasoning that continued commercialization prolonged the image-rights violation. It also applied STJ Precedent 403, under which moral harm from the unauthorized commercial publication of a person’s image does not depend on proof of actual loss. Panini appealed to the Superior Tribunal de Justiça.
The Court’s Holding
The Fourth Panel unanimously granted Panini’s special appeal and dismissed the action on the merits as time-barred. It held that the three-year limitation period governing civil-damages claims began when the alleged image-rights violation occurred: the album’s launch and placement on the consumer market on January 27, 2012. Continued sales did not postpone or restart that period.
The court applied its objective formulation of the actio nata doctrine, under which the limitation period ordinarily runs from the violation itself rather than the claimant’s later discovery of it. It also considered Silva’s assertion that he did not learn of the widely marketed album until 2018 implausible. In any event, even using the alleged June 2018 discovery date, the November 2021 complaint would still have fallen outside the three-year period.
The court therefore terminated the case with a merits resolution under Article 487(II) of the Code of Civil Procedure. It ordered Silva to bear costs and attorney’s fees set at 10% of the updated amount in controversy, subject to suspension if legal-aid protections applied. Because prescription resolved the case, the court did not need to decide Panini’s remaining challenges to liability or the damages award.
Key Takeaways
- A Brazilian civil-damages claim based on unauthorized commercial use of an image is subject to the three-year limitation period in Article 206, §3(V), of the Civil Code.
- For an image used in a sticker album, the limitation period begins when the work is launched and placed on the consumer market, not when the depicted person later claims to have discovered it.
- Continued commercialization of the same album does not make the original publication a continuing violation that postpones the limitation period.
Why It Matters
The ruling reinforces a definite accrual date for image-rights claims involving commercially distributed works. Publishers and depicted individuals can generally identify the product’s market launch as the operative date, reducing disputes over a claimant’s subjective date of knowledge.
The decision also distinguishes the existence of a potentially actionable unauthorized use from the timeliness of the remedy. Even where commercial exploitation of an athlete’s image could support liability, the claim may be extinguished if it is brought more than three years after the product’s release.