Eastwood sues Cdn. furniture firm
WINNIPEG – He’s one of Hollywood’s most rich and famous, but Clint Eastwood is taking Palliser Furniture to court — for a few dollars more.
The actor has filed a lawsuit against the Winnipeg-based furniture manufacturing giant to strike back over The Eastwood, a line of home-theatre chairs he claims the company has produced, marketed and sold without his permission.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in United States District Court, comes as a similar lawsuit against Palliser from the estate of late actor Marlon Brando — launched last March — also heads to federal court in the Central District of California.
A lawyer representing Eastwood — a heavyweight of Hollywood’s A-list as well as a producer and director for a half-century — confirmed both court actions are taking aim at Palliser’s chairs for the same reason.
The Los Angeles lawyer, who asked not to be named, is also representing Brando’s family and the Marlon Brando Living Trust in its court argument they hadn’t been approached by Palliser Furniture before sales of the line of chairs called The Brando shortly after the star’s death in 2004, and making millions of dollars from it.
“Our complaint speaks for itself. We really just don’t comment on pending litigation,” the lawyer said yesterday from L.A.
Eastwood’s statement of claim argues Palliser’s advertising and sales of the chairs bearing his name is “likely to confuse, mislead or deceive the consuming public” into believing the furniture is “in some way affiliated, connected or associated with” himself.
As well as Palliser’s profits from the chairs, Eastwood is claiming unspecified punitive damages for “oppression, fraud and malice” in their sales.
Diane Dawiskiba, Palliser’s manager of corporate services, did not return a call for comment. But in a letter last winter, before the filing of the Brando estate’s lawsuit, she had stated Palliser’s position that the chair The Brando is not based on the actor, but on a town of the same name on the French island of Corsica.
“Palliser is certainly not associating its use of the name with the Hollywood Brando name,” the letter stated.
The lawyer representing Eastwood and Brando’s family slammed that claim at the time, in light of Palliser’s sales of other home-theatre chairs called The Bronson, The Connery, The Cooper and The Cagney.
Rebecca Brando, Marlon Brando’s daughter, said she’s pleased to hear Eastwood is taking a hard line like that of her family.
“I’m very happy for Clint. He’s on board with us. He’s joined the team,” she told the Winnipeg Sun from L.A.
“This company cannot use our name for marketing purposes. I’m very happy we’re going to federal court to set a precedent, so companies know they need permission from the estates — from us, in order to use my father’s name.
“He was a very private man, and it’s not right for them to use his name and likeness in that way.”
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