American Company Sues Russian Tennis Star Maria Sharapova!
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005A law suit has been filed against Russian Tennis Queen Maria Sharapova in the U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, by Byzantium Productions Inc. of West Palm Beach, Florida.
The use of her name and image in a company produced documentary Anna’s Army: Behind the Rise of Russian Women’s Tennis
The documentary title refers to former WTA Tour pro Anna Kournikova, has been sold in DVD format since May this year in the U.S and abroad, and has also been broadcast on television in the U.S and Russia.
An attorney for IMG, the agency which represents Maria Sharapova and her company, SW19, Inc. sent a letter accusing Byzantium of misappropriating Sharapova identity, infringing on her company’s commercial trademark and legal rights, and on Sharapova’s personal rights, privacy rights and common law trademark rights, according to the suit, which was assigned to U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas.
The attorny L. Martin Reeder, Jr., said “In this country…we have the right to make documentaries about current events, subjects of interests. Those documentaries often involve celebrities,” who represents Byzantium. “My clients hope to earn a profit on this one.”
“They sent a cease and desist letter demanding that Byzantium stop using her image and name, either in advertising or in the documentary itself, and threatening to sue,” Reeder said.
The disputed documentary began in late 2003 by former chief editor of The Moscow Times and Byzantium President Philip C. Johnston and vice president Peter N. Geisler. They interviewd former tennis champions Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and others. The documentary includes historical material noting that writer Leo Tolstoy played tennis and was the first president of the Moscow Tennis Club.
Maria Sharapova, now ranked fourth on WTA, was the first Russian to win Wimbledon and first to reach the No. 1 ranking spot.
No court date has been scheduled, attorny L. Martin Reeder, Jr., said.
