Huang Xiaoming sues a hospital for misuse of photo

BEIJING: Mainland Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming filed a lawsuit against a hospital in Beijing for using his photograph in a promotional magazine without his permission.

In his statement, Huang Xiaoming criticised the hospital for misappropriating a photograph of himself in order to promote the clinic’s various medical treatments, including one for circumcision.

The photo was clearly intended for commercial use, since the magazine included the corporation name, the medical services provided, and contact information. The statement went on to say that not only did the misuse of the photo break copyright violation, it could also have

damaged Xiaoming’s reputation by implying that he is somehow connected to circumcision and other medical procedures.

Asaresult,theactorrequested that the hospital immediately recall and destroy all magazines with the published photo, issue a public apology to him in a worldwide newspaper, and pay him 300,000 yuan as compensation.

The photograph in question is actually the result of a Photoshop job done by a netizen a few years ago.

The supposed “nude” photo is an amalgamation of Huang Xiaoming’s face and the unclothed body of a wellendowed foreign male. Though many netizens previously believed that the photo really depicted Xiaoming, it was later shown that the photo had been altered.

The nude photo controversy is just a tired rehash of the same story, according to Xiaoming’s manager Huang Bin, who added that the actor was simply utilizing his legal right to protect himself.

Xiaoming expressed a similar sentiment, urging the public to “learn to use the law to protect yourselves.”