Following months of media scrutiny and respective mudslinging American Apparel have settled out of court with Director Woody Allen to the tune of $US5 million ($6.7 million Australian) after using his likeness in billboard advertisements without permission. To put that into perspective that’s 176,315 V neck t-shirts, 93,055 tie dye cotton spandex short unitards or gazillions of banner ads.
Originally seeking $10 Million in compensation, Allen settled for half that amount in what is still a record payout in New York: “This is not how I make my living and $US5 million is enough to discourage American Apparel or any one else from ever trying such a thing again” Allen said “I am told the settlement of $US5 million I am being paid is the largest reported amount ever paid under the New York right to privacy law,” he continued.
Allen went on to say that American Apparel’s defence posed no threat legally: “Their liability in the case was immediately clear to the judge, who told them so. It was also clear that the court considered their phony First Amendment ranting… sheer nonsense,” Allen said. “I suspect this dose of legal reality led to their 11th-hour settlement.”
