Football legend Pele is suing Samsung for at least $30m (£20.8m) over images used in a newspaper advert.
The 75-year-old Brazilian says the Korean electronics company’s advert for high-definition televisions featured a portrait-sized image of a man who “very closely resembles” him.
The advert also used a small photo of a footballer making a “modified bicycle or scissors-kick, perfected and famously used by Pele”, according to court papers in Chicago.
Pele’s name is not mentioned in the advert, which appeared in the New York Times in October, but the lawsuit says it will confuse consumers and hurt the star’s endorsement rights.
He already has deals with companies including Volkswagen, Subway, Emirates and Procter and Gamble.
The lawsuit also claims the advert appeared after Samsung had ended talks in 2013 that were aimed at securing a deal with Pele over the use of his image.
Samsung spokesman Danielle Meister Cohen declined to comment on the case.
Pele’s lawyer, Frederick Sperling, said: “The goal is to obtain fair compensation for the unauthorised use of Pele’s identity and to prevent future unauthorised uses.”
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Source: Sky News