Model-actor Russell Christoff, 58, had no idea of his fame among the instant java set until 2002, when a woman at a store remarked on his resemblance to the smiling man on the Taster's Choice jar, Christoff's attorney, Colin Claxon, said.
Christoff had received about $200 for posing for test shots for Nestle Canada for a different product, but was not contacted about the coffee labels, which were redesigned to use his photo in 1997, Claxon said.
Nestle spokeswoman Yasmeen Muqtasid said the company "believed we had permission to use the photograph." She would not comment on whether the company would appeal the verdict.
Last week, a Glendale, California, jury ordered Nestle USA, a division of Switzerland-based Nestle SA, to pay Christoff a $330,000 fee plus $15.6 million, or 5 percent, of Taster's Choice profits for the time he appeared on the label.
Earlier in the litigation, Christoff offered to settle the case for $8.5 million but Nestle refused, Claxon said.
Commercials are a substantial source of income for actors and performers, who therefore guard the use of their images aggressively.
In 2002, country singer Wiley Gustafson sued Yahoo! Inc. for $5 million after the online search engine paid him to appear in one commercial but kept using his trademark yodel in others.
Gustafson and Yahoo settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, and Yahoo continued using the yodel.
After the settlement, Gustafson said he hoped his lawsuit would raise awareness among artists and corporations of the value of copyrights and artists' creations.
(Wed Feb 2, 2005 08:59 AM ET )
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