She’s not happy.
Dua Lipa isn’t just annoyed she sees her face on cardboard without asking for it. She’s taking Samsung to court. Specifically. The US District Court in California got a filing last Friday. It asks for no less than $15,000,000. That’s a lot of zeroes for a picture of her standing backstage at Austin City Limits in 2024 📸
The claim? Copyright infringement. Trademark trouble. Violation of her right of publicity. The lawsuit says Samsung turned her likeness into free advertising for flat-screen televisions. Hard sell.
“Ms. Lipa brings this action … for the massive, continuing, unauthorized商业 exploitation of her valuable image”
Samsung’s reaction started with the classic lawyer-speak dodge. No comment. Then they softened the blow with a statement about third-party partners. They claim they got explicit assurance from a content partner—Samsung TV Plus—that permissions were locked down. For the screens and the retail boxes.
It’s an assurance chain that clearly snapped somewhere.
The suit argues Lipa’s image isn’t free stock footage. It’s currency. She works with Apple. Porsche. Big brands that pay big numbers because they know what they’re getting.
Samsung took her “carefully curated” identity and slapped it on boxes to move inventory. Did it work? Apparently, yeah. The complaint cites social media posts from fans ready to buy TVs solely because Lipa is printed on the front.
That noise is what woke her up to this in June 2026.
She sent a cease-and-desist immediately. Samsung kept shipping the boxes anyway. Or so the legal filing insists. It paints her as selective. Premium. A brand that wouldn’t dream of associating with unauthorized retail collateral.
Burn 🔥
So now we wait for discovery to peel back those third-party assurances. One side claims intentional exploitation. The other says they trusted the process.
Which side do you think has better receipts? 🧐
The money might just be a placeholder anyway. But the principle stands.
