Woody Allen has received
a US $5 million dollar payout from American Apparel, following the settlement of a
lawsuit he filed against the company. American Apparel had used an image of Allen dressed as a
hasidic rabbi from the film
Annie Hall on a billboard without Allen's permission. He claimed that the billboard sent the message that he endorsed the clothing company, when he did not.
In a statement read outside the courthouse in Manhattan, Allen said "I sued American Apparel because they calculatingly took my name, my
likeness, and image and used them publicly to promote their
business." Allen described the settlement as "the largest ever paid
under the New York right-to-privacy law" and
would "discourage American Apparel or any one else from ever trying
such a thing again."
Allen may have missed the point. Charney is a savvy marketer and without the case, few people around the world would have been aware of
the billboard. Charney's sexual harrassment cases are resolved, so to build American Apparel's and Charney's reputation as risque, a new controversy was required. After all, without the offense, the bad behaviour and lawsuits, American Apparel is
essentially just a plain T-shirt retailer.
On the
American Apparel website Dov Charney, the label's head, writes "For the record, I personally think we had a good case." One of Charney's lawyers, Adam Levin explained,
"Common sense dictates that the billboard at issue here is 'not a simple advertisement.' As a matter of
law, no commercial transaction is proposed: no merchandise is shown or described, and no price is
quoted. Instead, the billboard contains an image of an Orthodox Jew in a black top hat - none of which
can be purchased at American Apparel."