Every day, the individual engages in various processes of communication with his fellows, actively exercising his freedom of speech.
Although guaranteed by the Constitution, freedom of expression must be exercised within certain limits. The delimitation between freedom and abuse of rights, as well as the delimitation between law and abuse of law, is the responsibility of the state which, through the legislative apparatus, establishes the legal limits for the exercise of rights and freedoms, as well as criminal, contraventional or other liability that may be committed in case of breaching these legal limits.
The freedom of speech of a person must not, however, prejudice rights and freedoms of others, such as the right to enjoy honor and dignity; the right to enjoy the secret of correspondence; the right to intimate, family and private life; the right to their own image; the right to be recognized as the author of a literary, artistic, scientific work.
For example, a person who accused, through the press, the composer of a musical piece that he mistakenly abducted the work in question was forced this year by the court to pay moral damages to the author and the state fine.
Communication, in its various forms, forms the basis of the marketing activity carried out by the economic agents. However, commercial communication is not absolutely free. The limits of commercial communication begin where the advertising message of a party distorts the competition of the economic agents on the market or where the advertising message harms the interests of the consumers.
Today, communication must also be reported to the modern means of communication through which information can be transmitted: TV, radio, cable, internet or telephone.
For example, in France, a telephony company that used a truncated message in its own ad, namely announcing a 20% reduction in charges for calls to other networks, was sanctioned with a fine for misleading advertising because in reality the cut only applies to calls longer than 5 minutes.
In each of its forms, communication influences the development of a business. However, regardless of the future of information technology and regardless of cultural evolution, communication must respect the rights of the individual. Thus, a great sportsman has ignored the copyright of a Chinese cartoonist and introduced a drawing in the logo used in the promotion campaign. Last year, the producer lost the caricatured suit and was forced to pay him damages.
In order to avoid the unpleasantness of a communication activity, any company must find the optimal balance between the need to communicate the legal limits of the freedom to communicate, that is, to respect the rights and freedoms of other competitors, clients and citizens in general.