Samsung Used Dua Lipa’s Photo on TV Boxes, Now Wants Her $15M Lawsuit Tossed
Samsung is asking a federal judge to throw out Dua Lipa’s $15 million lawsuit over her photo appearing on television boxes, arguing the packaging showed content available through Samsung TV Plus and did not suggest the singer endorsed its TVs.
The electronics company filed its dismissal request Thursday in the Central District of California, where Lipa sued Samsung in May over a photograph of her that appeared on boxes for televisions featuring Samsung TV Plus.
Lipa claims the company used the image without permission to help market and sell its products. Her lawsuit accuses Samsung of copyright and trademark infringement and violating her right of publicity, and seeks at least $15 million in damages.
Samsung disputes that the packaging created the commercial association Lipa alleges.
“An interface depicting a music-video channel among several unrelated content icons conveys nothing suggesting plaintiff endorses the televisions,” the company’s attorneys wrote.
The image appeared as part of a display promoting Xite Hits, a music-video channel available through Samsung TV Plus. The same television packaging also showed other programming and content brands, including MLB, Fox Sports and The First 48.
Samsung argues the layout was meant to show buyers what could appear on the television screen rather than communicate that Lipa had entered an endorsement deal with the company.
“The images merely depict the televisions’ on-screen interface, illustrating the applications and … an example of content available on the TV,” its attorneys wrote.
Lipa’s lawsuit presents the use differently.
The singer says she owns the copyright to the photograph, which was taken backstage at the Austin City Limits festival in 2024, and claims Samsung placed it prominently on retail packaging without obtaining her permission.
Her complaint alleges the boxes created the impression that she was commercially associated with Samsung and allowed the company to benefit from the value of her name and likeness without paying her.
Lipa also claims she raised the issue before filing suit and that Samsung continued using the packaging despite repeated demands to stop.
Samsung has maintained since the case began that the image came from a third-party content partner.
The company said in May that the partner supplied the photograph for use in connection with Samsung TV Plus and explicitly assured Samsung that the necessary permissions had been secured, including permission to use the image on retail boxes.
Samsung has denied intentionally misusing Lipa’s image and says it relied on those assurances when the packaging was produced.
The latest filing adds a separate challenge to Lipa’s claims by focusing on what consumers would understand from seeing her photograph on the box. Samsung argues that displaying an example of streaming content is not the same as representing that the performer shown on screen personally endorses the television.
That issue is central to Lipa’s trademark and publicity allegations, which rely in part on her claim that Samsung improperly connected her identity to its products.
Her complaint points to her history of selective commercial partnerships with brands including Porsche, Apple, Versace and Yves Saint Laurent, arguing that control over where her image appears carries substantial commercial value.
Samsung is asking the court to dismiss the case before it proceeds further. Lipa’s lawsuit remains pending, and the judge has not ruled on the company’s request.
