Model sues over unapproved ads
26/1/2005 7:45
Shanghai Daily news
A famous Chinese model has
filed a lawsuit against a Ningbo, Zhejiang Province-based company, accusing it
of using her image in advertisements without her permission.
The Pudong New
Area People's Court asked the two sides to offer evidence yesterday, and said it
will set a hearing date in the near future.
Tong Chenjie is demanding 250,000
yuan (US$30,120) to cover her economic losses and another 10,000 yuan in
compensation for mental anguish.
Tong, who is married to local soccer star
Xie Hui, said in the lawsuit that Ningbo Peacebird Investment Group Co Ltd
erected a huge billboard near an expressway exit in Ningbo at the beginning of
last year.
The billboard contains a garment ad featuring Tong.
Tong said
the billboard had caused her a great deal of trouble.
She said she signed a
contract to star in advertisements for a local garment company. The contract
stated that she wouldn't work as a model for other garment companies until this
May.
When the local company learned about the billboard in Ningbo, it told
Tong she was in breach of contract and tore up its deal with her, a decision
that cost the model 250,000 yuan.
"Tong suffered more losses in fact because
the incident made a few other companies put aside plans to use her in
advertising," said Liu Fang, Tong's attorney.
The lawyer for Ningbo Peacebird
explained that the ad wasn't created by the group, but was produced by a
subsidiary of the group. The garment company signed a contract with Tong in the
past, but it had expired before the billboard was set up.
"Even if the ad
violated Tong's image right, it should be the subsidiary company that pays
compensation," said Xie Xuefeng, the defendant's lawyer.
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