Samsung has pushed back after Dua Lipa sued the company for $15 million over the alleged unauthorized use of her image, saying the photo came from a third-party content partner rather than from an intentional decision to use her likeness for marketing. The company says it was told the rights were cleared for use on Samsung TV Plus and even on retail packaging, which is a tidy defense right up until a court decides whether that assurance was good enough.
The dispute sits in a familiar spot for big consumer brands: the deeper the content pipeline, the easier it is for someone to point at the person upstream when a rights problem explodes. Samsung is also leaving the door open to a deal, which is usually what happens once the legal bill starts looking more expensive than the embarrassment.
Samsung says the image came from a content partner
In its response, Samsung said the image was used in 2025 to represent third-party content available on its TVs. The company says the photo was supplied by a partner for Samsung TV Plus, and that it relied on explicit assurance that permission had been obtained from the rights holder, including for retail boxes. That matters because the argument is no longer just about usage, but about whether Samsung reasonably trusted the source or should have checked more carefully.
Lipa’s side says the image was discovered being used without permission in June 2025, after which a cease-and-desist demand was sent. Her lawyers also claim Samsung kept using the image for financial benefit. If that wording sounds aggressive, that is because it is; lawsuits over image rights tend to get that way fast.
Samsung TV Plus dispute follows earlier image claims
This is not Samsung’s first dance with a high-profile image claim. The company previously faced a lawsuit from Brazilian football star Pelé in 2016 over a lookalike used in an advertisement, and the case later moved into settlement talks before being dismissed. Big brands like Samsung move a lot of content through a lot of hands, which is efficient until somebody forgets who actually owns the rights.
The likely path now is negotiation, not a dramatic courtroom finale. Samsung has said it remains open to a constructive resolution, and that is usually code for: ”We would like this to stop being expensive.” The real question is whether the dispute ends with a payout, a licensing fix, or a broader audit of how Samsung and its partners clear celebrity imagery before it lands on a product box or streaming service.