Fry's Electronics is getting burned. After putting out a newspaper ad using the images of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington without permission, the Outpost.com owner is being sued for a combined $30 million bucks. Once again, oops.
The A-listers have filed suit against Fry's Electronics, claiming the chain used their famous faces in newspaper ads sans their approval.
The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Fry's of superimposing the actors' countenances on TVs with the intent of making it look like the celebs were pitchmen for the company, when in fact they never agreed to do so. The suit seeks $10 million in damages for each of the actors--or about half their typical movie paycheck.
The suit states that while such unlawful use might be attractive to clientele, it has the ultimate effect of "diminishing [their] hard-earned and well-deserved reputations as major motion pictures stars and risks the potential for overexposure," which could hurt their bankability and their careers.
Fry's Electronics has stores throughout California, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada and Texas.
Neither the attorney representing the stars, Martin Singer, nor a spokesman for Fry's could be reached for comment.
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Something's going around, isn't it? First the US govt. rips off a photo then this...
Does anybody not pay attention to anything anymore? Let's have a nice review of copyright, IP and related issues...
And the Big 3 Actors, perhaps ought to sue for just $1, to make their point about image rights without appearing greedy (though Bruce probably could use the money... )
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