"Salaries for Rights Clearance types just went up. Way up."

So said Jordan Stratford on adlist when he tipped us to the story of the model whose image was used for years without his permission on Taster's Choice coffee labels.


Back in 1986 Russell Christoff posed for a two-hour Nestlé photo shoot, and when he didn't hear back from them he thought that the job had gone to another model. In 2002 when he was out looking for bloody mary mix at a local drug store he found his face on the Taster's Choice cans staring back at him.

Off to court they went, with Christoff wanting to to settle for $8.5-million, while Nestlé USA thought $100,000 would do, the jury in the end jury has awarded Christoff $15.6-million. CBS News:

See also A man, a label and a lawsuit;

On the one hand, you might think such a lawsuit would be straightforward: Did Christoff allow Nestle to use his picture? And if so, for how long? But, aha, thanks to a little legal term called “statutes of limitations,” the case turned out to be far from straightforward. The California Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower court decision ruling that Christoff filed suit outside the statute of limitations for such a claim.