Zeta-Jones, currently the face of Elizabeth Arden's new
fragrance, says the images would "dilute the value of her celebrity
endorsement". However, the club's owners say they obtained the
photo from a "royalty free" web site and did not recognise the
Oscar-winning star.
Zeta-Jones sued on Thursday at an LA district court. It claims
that at no point in her life has she ever visited The Spice House,
nor did she give permission for the use of her image alongside nude
models.
"She should have been flattered," Kent Wallace, a spokesman for
The Spice House told Reuters, adding that his establishment is
"shocked and bemused" by the action. "She is a big double-D and we
are just B-cups. She ought to pick on someone her own size."
Earlier this year, Zeta-Jones and her husband Michael Douglas
won damages from Hello! after the magazine printed unauthorised
snaps of their wedding. The couple had sold exclusive rights to
rival OK!. She also threatened to sue another publication over a
story which advised that she had been on the famous Atkins
diet.
In the UK, the law of passing off can sometimes be used to
prevent a celebrity's image being used overtly to promote a
commercial product. The closest the UK courts have come to
recognising a "celebrity right" was racing driver Eddie Irvine's
success against talkSPORT in the High Court in March 2002, although
the decision was consistent with existing principles. It simply
recognised the commercial value of personal endorsements.
In Irvine's case, a promotional brochure was sent to less than
1,000 people advertising radio station Talk Radio, with a photo
which had been doctored to show Irvine holding a radio bearing a
Talk Radio logo, instead of a mobile phone, which he was holding in
the original photo.
Back in the US, in celebration of the fact that it is being
sued, The Spice House is having a special Hallowe'en contest where
patrons are invited to come dressed as their "favourite brunette
star".
