By Rhea Rose Abraham
May 10 (Reuters) - British pop star Dua Lipa has filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics seeking at least $15 million in damages, accusing the South Korean tech giant of using her image without permission to market its television sets.
The lawsuit alleges that Samsung featured a copyrighted image of the pop star on the front of cardboard boxes containing televisions for retail sale, enabling the company to benefit from what seemed like her endorsement of the product.
The image alleged to have been used on the TV boxes is titled "Dua Lipa - Backstage at Austin City Limits, 2024," and Lipa is the owner of all rights, title and interest in the image, the lawsuit said. The suit was filed on Friday in the California federal court.
Besides copyright and trademark infringement, Lipa has accused Samsung Electronics of breaching publicity rights.
Samsung Electronics denied allegations of intentional misuse of the image, which it said was provided by a third-party partner that created the content involving Lipa for Samsung's free streaming service.
"The image was used only after receiving explicit assurance from the content partner that permission had been secured, including for the retail boxes," Samsung said in a statement.
"We have actively sought and remain open to a constructive resolution with Ms. Lipa’s team," it said.
Dua Lipa's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Her lawyers have attached screenshots of social media postings and comments in the filing claiming that the pop star's image on the front of the boxes pushed potential customers to purchase the product. One of these screenshots shows a fan commenting that they would get the TV "just because Dua is on it."
The "Levitating" singer became aware of Samsung's alleged infringement in June last year and demanded that Samsung stop using her image, but the electronics manufacturer repeatedly refused to do so, her lawyers said.
Samsung’s alleged unauthorised use of Dua Lipa's image has "caused and continues to cause dilution" of the pop star's "brand identity and commercial goodwill by falsely conveying to the consuming public that she approves of and endorses" the products in question, they added.
(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru, Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Ed Davies)
