Nestle has appealed a court decision following its loss in a lawsuit against a small Israeli coffee company following the use of a George Clooney look-alike in its Nespresso spoof ads.
The international food giant sued Espresso Club, an Israeli corporation that released ads very similar to Nestle’s Nespresso commercials starring Hollywood A-list star, George Clooney.
Espresso Club hired a Clooney look-alike in its own parody commercial, resulting in a lawsuit from Nestle, which included NIS 200,000 ($50,000) in damages, and the removal of the ad starring Clooney look-alike, David Segal, Times of Israel reported.
Nestle lost the lawsuit, and immediately appealed the ruling on the case last Jan. 20, Wednesday, in Tel Aviv.
The District Court’s ruling on the two-year-old lawsuit directed Nestle to pay Espresso Club the amount in damages equaling NIS 58,500 ($14,700) to cover the legal cost of the suit, News United said.
Nestle flew in a Swiss lawyer this week to help handle its appeal, citing the actual Clooney, who markets its Nespresso brand, represents the company’s reputation, and Espresso Club was riding upon this commercial status to sell their own brand by hiring a lookalike actor to “mislead consumers.”
Despite the Espresso Club ads’ disclaimer pointing out the actor in its commercials is not the real George Clooney.
According to Espresso Club CEO, Oren Tal, the Israeli company has already prepared for Nestle’s rebuttal knowing the appeal’s focus would center on Clooney, who is also a member of Nespresso’s board of directors, a report from Newstral stated.
Tal further said he anticipates Nestle’s legal counsel to stress Clooney is earning as much as $40 million to represent the brand, as part of the food giant’s arguments in this flagship case, which is expected to reach the High Court.
Nespresso and Nestle declined to respond to Tal’s statements on the issue of the pending appeal.
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