Clint Eastwood Wins $6.1 Million From 'Online Scammers' in CBD Lawsuit | GreenState

Clint Eastwood Wins $6.1 Million From ‘Online Scammers’ in CBD Lawsuit | GreenState

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Clint Eastwood is riding high after winning a $6.1 million default judgment against a Lithuanian company that falsely claimed he endorsed a line of CBD gummies.

“I am pleased with the Court’s ruling, and believe this judgment sends a powerful message to other online scammers who might try to illegally use someone’s name and reputation to sell their products,” Eastwood said in a statement to Rolling Stone.

A federal judge in Los Angeles awarded Eastwood and his company Garrapata $6,094,565.33 in monetary damages on Friday. The Oscar winner previously asked for $30 million, but the court shot that figure down in June, leading Eastwood to circle back with the lower figure granted Friday.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner agreed that $6 million is what Eastwood reasonably would have charged Lithuania-based Mediatonas UAB to endorse a product for a 16-month online campaign, considering he rarely lends his image to commercial endeavors. “Mr. Eastwood’s name and likeness have only been licensed once, for a single Super Bowl commercial ‘themed around America’s resilience and recovery from the Great Recession,’” the judge found, according to minutes of the Friday hearing. And the actor only agreed to take part in the Super Bowl ad because “he felt strongly about its subject matter: job growth and the spirit of America,” the court said.

The judge further found that Eastwood could have charged a premium to endorse the CBD line at the center of the legal dispute because it was “unknown” and thus would rely more heavily on his star power – and possibly “jeopardize his reputation.”

Eastwood, 91, first brought the underlying trademark infringement and defamation lawsuit last year, without yet knowing the identity of Mediatonas. After subpoenas were issued, he named the company in an amended complaint in February. The company failed to respond to a summons a month later, setting the stage for the default judgment.

The Dirty Harry actor claims Mediatonas owned the websites ushealthynews.com and usmagazinetrending-news.com, where it hosted a “false, defamatory, and wholly fabricated” article about him to promote and sell cannabidiol (CBD) products. The fraudulent article – titled “Big Pharma In Outrage Over Clint Eastwood’s CBD: Sera Relief CBD Gummies – He Fires Back With This!” – was included as an exhibit in Eastwood’s filings.

U.S. District Court, Central District of California

“In truth, Mr. Eastwood has no connection of any kind whatsoever to any CBD products and never gave such an interview,” the complaint reads.

Attempts to reach Mediatonas were not successful Monday.

“Over a career that has a spanned more than sixty years, Mr. Eastwood has earned a reputation for honesty, hard work, integrity, and public service,” Eastwood’s attorney, Jordan Susman, said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “He is also willing to do what is right and what is fair. In pursuing this case, and obtaining this judgment, Mr. Eastwood has again demonstrated a willingness to confront wrongdoing and hold accountable those who try to illegally profit off his name, likeness, and goodwill.”

Eastwood recently directed and starred in the movie Cry Macho. His 2004 flick Million Dollar Baby won the best picture Oscar in 2005.

Clint Eastwood wins $6.1 million CBD lawsuit - Entertainment News

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Photo: Nicky Nelson/WENN.com

Clint Eastwood has won a $6.1 million lawsuit against a CBD seller.

The 91-year-old director had taken legal action against Mediatonas UAB for using his name and likeness to promote their products without his permission, and now a judge in California has entered a default judgment against the Lithuanian company after they failed to respond to a summons in March (21).

Clint and Garrapata, the company which owns the rights to his likeness, were awarded $6 million in damages and $95,000 to cover legal fees, and also obtained a permanent injunction against the future use of the Million Dollar Baby director’s name or image by the company.

The Dirty Harry actor had filed two lawsuits last year (20) from a number of CBD companies, who he accused of falsely claiming he had endorsed their products.

Documents filed in July 2020 stated: “In truth, Mr Eastwood has no connection of any kind whatsoever to any CBD products and never gave such an interview.

“Mr Eastwood seeks to hold accountable the persons and entities that wrongfully crafted this scheme, spread false and malicious statements of facts about him, and illegally profited off of his name and likeness.”

A second lawsuit targeted a number of companies and individuals to use programming code to insert his name in hidden tags in order to send online searches to their webpages.

The suit stated: “By using Mr Eastwood’s name in hidden metatags, defendants have figuratively posted a sign with Mr Eastwood’s trademark in front of their online store to attract customers and caused the consuming public to believe that Mr Eastwood is associated with and/or endorsed… defendants’ CBD products, when no such association actually exists…

“Like many of his most famous characters, Mr Eastwood is not afraid to confront wrongdoing and hold accountable those that try to illegally profit off his name or likeness.”

Clint Eastwood wins $6.1 million in damages in CBD lawsuit

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They just made Clint Eastwood’s day.

The iconic “Dirty Harry” star — and the company that controls rights to his legendary likeness — won $6.1 million in a lawsuit Friday against a Lithuanian company that allegedly pimped the Oscar-winning actor-director’s visage to imply he endorsed CBD products.

Justice R. Gary Klausner of the US District Court for the Central District of California awarded Eastwood and his representatives at the company Garrapata millions in damages for the unauthorized use of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” star’s name and likeness after Mediatonas UAB did not respond to a summons from March.

The company also had to pick up 91-year-old Eastwood’s $95,000 in legal tab, the New York Times reported — and is also blocked from ever using him to hype their cannabidiol (a nonintoxicating compound in the cannabis sativa plant) products in the future.

“In pursuing this case, and obtaining this judgment, Mr. Eastwood has again demonstrated a willingness to confront wrongdoing and hold accountable those who try to illegally profit off his name, likeness, and goodwill,” said Jordan Susman, the “Unforgiven” star’s lawyer, in a statement.

Eastwood first filed multiple lawsuits in July 2020 after rumors spread that he was ditching Hollywood to hawk CBD products. In February, Eastwood’s legal team amended the complaint to target Mediatonas UAB — the company that owns the websites where the fake news appeared.

The sites shared an online “interview” that featured the “Million Dollar Baby” director claiming his new role selling CBD offered him “something bigger than movies.”

“This was a really, really difficult decision for me,” Eastwood is quoted as saying of his decision to leave Hollywood to be a CBD salesman.

The article was accompanied by a photo of Eastwood from an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, along with the show’s logo — and faux testimonials about the effectiveness of Eastwood’s non-existent CBD line from Hollywood pals Terry Bradshaw, Sam Elliott, Michael J. Fox and Garth Brooks.

“Mr. Eastwood has no connection of any kind whatsoever to any CBD products and never gave such an interview,” the original court papers said.

Meanwhile, despite his eventual $6.1 million ruling for Eastwood, judge Klausner did not grant the lawsuit’s full request for defamation on Friday because it did not appear “libelous on its face,” he wrote in his decision: “It requires additional context to understand what CBD products are and why a person like Clint Eastwood would not endorse a marijuana-based product.”