Lawyers for the company argued the appearance of the singer’s image on a television box contains “nothing suggesting plaintiff endorses the televisions”
Legal representatives from Samsung are seeking the dismissal of Dua Lipa‘s $15 million lawsuit over the unauthorized use of her image on a product box. In a new Thursday filing obtained by Rolling Stone, the company argues that the singer does not have grounds to sue because there’s “nothing suggesting plaintiff endorses the televisions.”
“The images merely depict the televisions’ on-screen interface, illustrating the applications and … an example of content available on the TV,” lawyers for Samsung said. The relevant products contain a photo of Lipa on boxes for televisions featuring Samsung TV Plus, where the singer is used to promote the Xite Hits channel. Other logos that appear on the product include MLB, Fox Sports, and the crime series The First 48.
Samsung previously claimed it had “explicit assurance” from a “content partner” that permission was granted to use the image. “Ms. Lipa’s image was used in 2025 to reflect the content of our third-party partners that is available on Samsung TVs and was originally provided by a content partner for our free streaming service Samsung TV Plus,” the company said in a response to the initial suit filing. “The image was used only after receiving explicit assurance from the content partner that permission had been secured, including for the retail boxes. Given this assurance, we deny any allegations of intentional misuse.”
Representatives for Lipa and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lipa’s legal team filed the lawsuit against Samsung Electronics in a California district court in May after multiple cease-and-desist orders were ignored, her lawyers claimed. “Ms. Lipa brings this action against Samsung for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and violation of her right of publicity in order to obtain redress for the massive, continuing, unauthorized commercial exploitation of her valuable image and likeness by Samsung on cardboard television boxes,” the lawsuit read. “Recognizing Ms. Lipa’s notoriety and goodwill, Samsung used a copyrighted image of Ms. Lipa (the “DL Image”) without authority or license and prominently featured it on the front of cardboard boxes containing Samsung manufactured televisions for retail sale.”
Samsung now seeks to have the court dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety.
