An author published a fictional book centered on a villainous, criminal, and deceitful character. The character in the book was portrayed as an Israeli, a lecturer in intelligence at Sofia University, involved in real estate in Bulgaria, who had undergone bariatric surgery and suffered from diabetes - details matching precisely a businessman who was previously in a dispute with the author.
The Court held that the author committed the torts of libel and invasion of privacy. Examination of the possibility of identifying a fictional character with a real-world person is done using the standard of the "reasonable acquaintance." Libel, inter alia, is a communication likely to humiliate a person in the eyes of others or to cause him harm. The law attempts to balance freedom of expression with the rights to a good name and privacy. One must objectively assess the meaning a reasonable reader would attribute to the words. The invasion of privacy is assessed in each case according to its specific circumstances. Here, the combination of unique biographical details allows a businessman's acquaintances to identify him easily, and a reasonable reader would attribute the words to a negative portrayal of the character, a matter likely to humiliate and harm the businessman. The author acted with intent to cause injury, inter alia, by creating a search engine link between the businessman's name and the book. Likewise, presenting the information regarding the plaintiff's medical condition, the excess weight for which he underwent gastric bypass surgery, and the diabetes disease, constitutes an invasion of his privacy. Therefore, the author was held liable for damages and was ordered to remove the identifying details from the book.