British pop star Dua Lipa has filed a lawsuit against Samsung seeking damages of at least $15 million (about €13 million). At the center of the dispute is a photograph of the singer that the South Korean electronics giant allegedly used on the packaging of a significant share of the televisions it sold in the United States during 2025.
The image was reportedly used without any authorization and without compensation to the British artist. The complaint was filed last Friday, May 8, in the US District Court for the Central District of California, and accuses Samsung of multiple violations of US intellectual property and right-of-publicity law.
Why Dua Lipa is suing Samsung
The contested image shows Lipa backstage, just before a performance at the Austin City Limits festival in Texas in 2024. According to the complaint, Lipa personally owns the copyright to that photograph — a central point of the case. Samsung allegedly printed the image on the front of the cardboard boxes containing the TVs, also reproducing it on the screen of the unit pictured on the packaging, visually suggesting a promotional tie-in with the artist.
The singer’s lawyers argue that Samsung exploited Lipa’s «carefully cultivated and extremely valuable» identity to drive television sales, using a copyrighted image without permission. The complaint states that the singer’s face was used prominently in a mass-market campaign tied to a consumer product, with no compensation and no ability for her to control how it was used.
What the lawsuit claims
According to the filing, Lipa noticed her image on the packaging in June 2025 and immediately asked Samsung to stop the practice. The company’s response, the complaint says, was «dismissive and indifferent». Her lawyers describe «repeated requests» that Samsung allegedly ignored — conduct that, they say, drove the singer to take the case to court.
The lawsuit accuses Samsung of copyright infringement, trademark violation, breach of California’s right-of-publicity statute, and a violation of the federal Lanham Act on unfair competition. Lipa is asking the court for a permanent injunction barring Samsung from any further use of the photograph. To that she adds a claim for actual damages of at least $15 million, plus punitive damages and legal fees.
Samsung has so far declined to comment publicly on the case and has not responded to international media inquiries.
The value of a celebrity’s personal brand
A key passage of the complaint concerns the commercial impact generated by Lipa’s image on the boxes. To support the argument, her lawyers cite social media comments from fans suggesting that the public read the photograph as an implicit endorsement. One user wrote they would buy that television just because Dua Lipa was on the box; another said they had no intention of buying a TV but had changed their mind after seeing the packaging. Online, the product was reportedly nicknamed «the Dua Lipa TV box».
The complaint stresses that the singer has been «highly selective» about her commercial partnerships, and that Lipa has built over the past decade one of «the most recognizable artistic brands in the world». Past collaborations have included Apple, Porsche, Versace, Bulgari, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Puma, while more recently she became Nespresso’s global ambassador. According to her lawyers, Samsung’s conduct «undermines the hard work that has gone into building a successful brand» and strips the artist of any ability to control or monetize her own image.
Editor’s note
This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by P. F. on May 12, 2026 as «Perché Dua Lipa ha fatto causa a Samsung per 15 milioni di dollari?». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.
