Son Dam Bi loses lawsuit against Korean cosmetic company for unauthorized use of her image

In a lawsuit against a cosmetic brand she had previously modeled for, singer and actress Son Dam Bi has lost her case.

On August 28th, the Seoul Eastern District Court (presiding judge Park Chang Ryeol) dismissed the case against the company.

Son Dam Bi had originally entered a 1-year contract with the cosmetic company for whom she modeled for starting October 4, 2010. At the time, she had made a condition that her image only be used within Korea.

However, in February 2013, large, colored advertisement of Son Dam Bi modeling for the brand began popping up in department stores in China, leading her to claim that her image was used without her authorization. Her lawsuit claimed a compensation of 1 billion won, or $847,250 USD in September 2014.

In response, the cosmetic company stated that the advertisements were not sent to distributors in China and had only provided their products to sell.

The court stated, “It is difficult to recognize whether the advertisement [images] were sent to China by the cosmetic company. As Ms. Son was under contract while modeling for the company, the images were widely distributed on the Internet making it easily accessible to anyone.”

Source: Yonhap News