Your image used without consent: Act 139-2011 and its $750 to $100,000 damages

It is the statute regulating the use and protection of one’s own image for commercial purposes in Puerto Rico (32 L.P.R.A. §§ 3151-3158). It distinguishes two uses: "commercial purpose" is using the image in connection with the advertisement, offer for sale or sale of a product, merchandise, good or service; "advertising purposes" is using it to inform the public about a good or service through the media, including institutional ads. The law covers every person, not just public figures, and applies to any act occurring within Puerto Rico’s territorial limits, regardless of the person’s domicile, residence or citizenship. The right is transferable in writing — contract, power of attorney, license, gift, will or intestate succession — and survives its holder for 25 years.

The person whose image was used without consent for commercial, mercantile or advertising purposes; whoever holds a license over that image; the heirs if the person died (the right lasts 25 years after death); or the authorized agent of any of them. "Person" includes the natural person, living or dead, and the juridical entity to whom a license was granted or the right transferred.

• Use of your image — name, photograph, portrait, voice, signature, attribute or representation that identifies you, including AI-generated — for commercial, mercantile or advertising purposes.Verified against the official source
• Without prior consent from you, your licensee, your heirs or the authorized agent.Verified against the official source
• That no exception applies: news reporting, political expression, sports or artistic events of legitimate public interest, satire or parody, criticism or academic use, or your appearing as an accessory person.Verified against the official source
• Claiming within one year from when you learned or should have learned of the facts.Verified against the official source

• Evidence of the use: the ad, post, packaging or piece where your image appears, dated if possible — prescription runs from when you learned of the facts.
• Any prior contract, license or authorization over your image, to draw the line between what was consented to and what was not.

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   Step 1: Confirm the use is commercial or advertising

   The law regulates the use of the image "for commercial purposes": in connection with the advertisement, offer for sale or sale of a product, merchandise, good or service; or advertising, in informing the public about a good or service through the media, including institutional ads. A photo of you in a business’s promotional post is covered; your appearance in a news story is not.

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   Step 2: Review the exceptions before claiming

   Article 8 removes four situations from the law’s reach: (a) news reporting, political expression, broadcasts of sports or artistic events or presentations of legitimate public interest, as long as not used for commercial or advertising purposes; (b) satire or parody whose main purpose is not commercial; (c) criticism, commentary or academic or research use that is not covert exploitation; and (d) the use of an accessory person’s image — one who does not appear in the main plane but as part of a group or background figure. If you appeared in the background of an event photo, that is likely the applicable exception.

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   Step 3: Document the use and its date

   Save the piece where your image appears and when you learned of it, because every action under this law must be brought no later than one (1) year from the date you learned or should have learned of the facts. Each unlawful use of your image in a work counts as one violation, regardless of how many copies of that work are made.

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   Step 4: Choose the remedy: stop the use, actual damages, or statutory damages

   Article 4 gives you the injunction to stop the use and the action for damages. To quantify actual damages the court weighs the infringer’s gross benefit, the earnings you lost, the harm you suffered and any other factor; if the violation was intentional or in bad faith, it may set up to three times the defendant’s gain or the plaintiff’s loss. Alternatively you may seek statutory damages: between $750 and $20,000 per violation as the court deems just, and up to $100,000 per violation if the violation was intentional or grossly negligent. If you prevail, the court always awards costs, fees and expenses in your favor.

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   Step 5: Aim at the advertiser, not necessarily the outlet

   Article 10 grants limited immunity to owners or employees of any medium — newspapers, magazines, billboards, internet, radio or television — where the image appears in violation of the law: they are not liable unless it is established that they knew the use was made without the required authorization. The primary responsible party is whoever used your image to sell, not the platform where it ran, unless you prove that knowledge.

The claim is filed at the Court of First Instance as a civil action: injunction, damages, or statutory damages in the alternative. This law’s remedies are in addition to those provided by any other applicable state or federal statute. For unauthorized use of your creations — not your person — the figure is different: the intellectual property registry, which we explain in its guide.

• Letting the year pass: the action prescribes one year from learning — or having had to learn — of the facts.
• Claiming over an accessory appearance: being in the background of a group is an express exception in the law.
• Confusing a news story with an ad: news reporting and expression of legitimate public interest are excepted when they have no commercial purpose.
• Believing parody always violates the law: it is excepted when its main purpose is not commercial or advertising.
• Thinking a deepfake does not count because it is not a real photo: AI-generated or altered images are expressly included since 2026.
• Suing only the outlet that published: the medium has limited immunity unless it knew there was no authorization.
• Overlooking statutory damages: between $750 and $20,000 per violation without having to prove the amount of actual harm.
• Believing death extinguishes the right: it extends 25 years after, exercised by the heirs.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov