Anyone who is depicted in a photo can sometimes invoke portrait rights. This means that in some cases the photo may not be published without the permission of the person in the photo.

Portrait rights are regulated in the Dutch Copyright Act. The act distinguishes between two different situations: the portrait that has been commissioned or the portrait that has not been commissioned.

If a portrait is commissioned by the person portrayed, then publication without further permission from the person portrayed is required; the maker of the portrait does have the copyright.

If a portrait is not commissioned by the person portrayed, the image may - in principle - be freely published. This is different if the person depicted has a 'reasonable interest' to oppose the publication. This often concerns a privacy interest. A judge will decide what is a reasonable interest and whether this outweighs the importance of the publication.