Who Is Maria Belen Rodriguez? And Why Is She Suing Google?

Maria Belen Rodriguez is an Argentina-born model, actress and TV personality who successfully sued Google and Yahoo in 2006 after alleging that her likeness was wrongfully appropriated by websites and then entered into search results.

The precise legal claims made by Belen Rodriquez are not entirely clear. They probably involved misappropriation of her likeness and related damage to her reputation.

I haven’t been able to locate the complaint.

She initially won a judgment of roughly $15,000 in 2010, in the Argentina action. That was subsequently reduced to just over $6,000 and now the case has gone up to the Argentinean Supreme Court — presumably over the amount of the damages award.

This case is also a first cousin of the European “right to be forgotten,” dealing with the rights of individuals to control what appears about them in search results.