Soccer star Pelé is suing Samsung for $30 million. The 75-year-old Brazilian athlete claims that the company used a lookalike of him in a full-page ad for its UHD (ultra high definition) TVs last year.
Reuters reported that, Pelé filed the lawsuit in federal court in Chicago earlier this month, with the complaint noting that the ad used a large portrait photograph of a model that "very closely resembles" Pelé.
Next to this was an image of a Samsung TV showing a soccer player in the middle of a "modified bicycle or scissors-kick, perfected and famously used by Pelé."
The lawsuit alleged that the Korean company improperly used a look-alike in an advertisement that got published in The New York Times without permission.
However, the complaint notes that Samsung previously tried to use Pelé's image for marketing in 2013, but that the South Korean electronics company pulled out of the deal at the last minute, and "never obtained the right to use Pelé's identity in any manner or in any format."
Pelé's lawyers argue that the ad will confuse consumers, divert prospective client because the soccer star relies on endorsements for much of his income, and the ad will hurt the value of his endorsement rights and confuse consumers into believing he endorses Samsung products, the complaint added.
“The goal is to obtain fair compensation for the unauthorized use of Pele’s identity, and to prevent future unauthorized uses,” Pelé’s lawyer, Frederick Sperling, said in a phone interview.
However, Samsung is yet to make any official comment regarding this story.
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>> Image: [GettyImage] | Source: Reuters
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