Pic Of Carina Lau In Court In 1993 Exhibited At The China Court Museum

If you ever visit the China Court Museum in Beijing, you should try looking for this picture of Hong Kong actress Carina Lau, 59.

Recently, a netizen shared on Xiaohongshu that they chanced upon this photo taken in 1993 of the actress.

According to reports, the picture was snapped at a Shanghai courtroom when Carina was 28.

She was wearing a tweed blouse and was seated behind a sign with the word “plaintiff”.

The words at the bottom of the photo read: “1993 February 9. The People’s Court of Shanghai Municipality’s public hearing of Carina Lau’s lawsuit against Yalisi Cosmetics Co. Ltd., Shanghai No.1 Department Store and Shanghai Hualian Commercial Building for infringement of portrait rights.”

In 1992, the Shanghai No.1 Department Store and Shanghai Hualian Commercial Building had used Carina’s photos in the advertisements outside their buildings.

Yalisi Cosmetics Co. Ltd., which was one of the retailors in the store, also used Carina’s face on their packaging and instruction manuals.

None of them had gotten Carina’s consent.

The actress then sued the three companies for portrait rights infringement and asked for one million yuan (S$186K) in compensation for emotional distress.

The court case made Carina the first person from Hong Kong to get involved in a portrait rights infringement case in China.

That was also the first time a plantiff made several large retailers the co-defendants of a portrait rights case in the country.

Carina eventually dropped her lawsuit against Shanghai No.1 Department Store and Shanghai Hualian Commercial Building.

She also donated the 100K yuan (S$18.6K) she received in compensation to Project Hope, a Chinese public service project organised by the China Youth Development Foundation and the Communist Youth League Central Committee.