• Dua Lipa filed a $15 million lawsuit against Samsung on May 8 in the Central District of California
• Samsung allegedly used a photo of Lipa performing at Austin City Limits Festival 2024 on TV box packaging without her consent
• When Lipa asked Samsung to stop, the company was described as “dismissive and callous” and refused
• Lipa owns the copyright to the photograph and says she never gave permission for commercial use
• The suit includes copyright infringement, right of publicity, Lanham Act, and trademark claims

Dua Lipa is taking Samsung to court — and she’s not asking nicely. The 30-year-old pop star filed a $15 million lawsuit against the South Korean electronics giant on Friday, May 8, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging the company used her image to sell televisions without her knowledge, her permission, or a single dollar paid to her.

According to the complaint, Samsung placed a photo of Lipa performing at the Austin City Limits Festival in 2024 on the cardboard packaging of its TVs — turning one of her concert moments into what amounts to a celebrity endorsement she never agreed to give.

“Ms. Lipa’s face was prominently used for a mass marketing campaign for a consumer product without her knowledge, without consideration, and as to which she had no say, control, or input whatsoever,” the lawsuit states. “Ms. Lipa did not allow and would not have allowed this use.”

What makes this especially pointed is what happened after Lipa found out. She didn’t go straight to court — she went to Samsung first. The suit alleges she contacted the company and demanded they stop using her image. Samsung’s response? The complaint describes it as “dismissive and callous.” They refused.

That refusal is what pushed this into federal court.

Samsung’s Packaging Actually Sold TVs — and That’s Part of the Problem

Lipa’s legal team didn’t just argue the principle of the thing. They came with receipts — literally. The complaint includes posts from X (formerly Twitter) showing that consumers genuinely believed Lipa had endorsed the product, and that belief moved them to buy.

“I wasn’t even planning on buying a tv but I saw the box so I decided to get it,” one user wrote.

“I’d get that TV just because Dua Lipa is on it,” wrote another. “That’s how obsessed I am. That’s how much I love her.”

A third put it even more bluntly: if you need to sell something, “Just put a picture of Dua Lipa on it.”

Those posts do a lot of legal heavy lifting. They help establish that Samsung wasn’t just passively benefiting from Lipa’s image — it was actively profiting from the false impression that she had put her name behind their product. The lawsuit argues that constitutes a copyright violation, a violation of California’s right-of-publicity statute, a federal Lanham Act claim, and trademark infringement.

Critically, Lipa owns the copyright to the photograph itself — it was taken backstage at Austin City Limits in 2024. That gives her standing not just as the subject of the image, but as the owner of it.

Why This Hits Differently for Dua Lipa

This isn’t just about one photo. The lawsuit makes clear that Lipa has spent years building what the complaint calls a “premium brand” — and that she is “highly selective” about the companies she actually chooses to endorse. The value of that selectivity is precisely what Samsung allegedly exploited for free.

When your face on a box is enough to convince strangers to buy a television they weren’t planning to purchase, that’s not just flattering — it’s commercially significant. And according to Lipa’s legal team, Samsung knew exactly what it was doing when it put her image out there, and chose to keep doing it even after she asked them to stop.

Samsung has not commented publicly on the lawsuit.

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