Now this is something interesting. Football legend Pele has sued Samsung for $30 million for an advertisement that features a lookalike. The Brazilian superstar accuses Samsung of using a model who closely resembles him in an ad for the UHD TVs that appeared on the front page of “The New York Times”.
This lawsuit has been filed earlier this month in Chicago. The ad also features a huge television and displays a player performing a bicycle kick. The attorney has mentioned that this “modified bicycle or scissors-kick has been perfected and famously used by Pelé” and Samsung did not have any permission from the legend to use the pose.
But Samsung had indicated that the ad did not mention pele in any form and the football pose has been given by a white actor instead of black and the pose is of a volley, rather than the Pele’s famous bicycle kick.
The complaint has also mentioned Samsung efforts in using Pele’s image for marketing in 2013 that resulted in Samsung ultimately backing off at the last minute.
Pele’s attorney has put forth the argument that the ad has intentionally been twisted so that the viewers would believe that pele was promoting the product thus increasing the sale of the UHD TV. But this has caused a dilution in the value of brand pele and his star endorsements.
“The goal is to obtain fair compensation for the authorized use of Pelé’s identity and to prevent future unauthorized uses,” attorney Frederick Sperling told Reuters.
Pele’s lawyer Frederick Sperling has fought court battles on basketball legend Michael Jordan’s behalf and has won him $9 million in a case where his image has been used in promoting a product without proper permission.
