What Is a Black Coffee Case Like the Jia Ling Ruling About?

Actress and director Jia Ling sued an Anhui company that used her cartoon boxing image on Ms. Jia Black Coffee packaging and implied weight-loss benefits without permission. The Qiaocheng District Court in Bozhou ruled the defendant infringed her portrait rights, ordering production stopped, a public apology and 100,000 yuan in damages.

The dispute began during the theatrical run of the film YOLO, when merchants marketed black coffee as Jia Ling's same style. The film's official channels said no fat-loss or sugar-free product endorsements were ever authorized, and noted that some sellers refused to take down ads and even forged authorization documents. The ruling is a reminder to treat celebrity-endorsed coffee marketing with caution.

Actress and director Jia Ling has taken an Anhui company to court for using her cartoon boxing image on the packaging of its "Ms. Jia Black Coffee" without authorization and implying weight-loss benefits. The Qiaocheng District Court in Bozhou, Anhui, recently ruled that the defendant infringed Jia Ling's portrait rights, ordering it to stop producing the infringing product, issue a public apology, and pay 100,000 yuan in damages. The case arose during the theatrical run of the film YOLO, when some merchants promoted black coffee products under the guise of "Jia Ling's same style," while the film's official channels repeatedly clarified that they had never authorized any fat-loss product endorsements. This article reviews the course of events and the key points of the ruling, while reminding consumers to view celebrity-endorsed coffee marketing rationally.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

According to Jimu News and several other media outlets, actress and director Jia Ling has sued an Anhui company that produces "Jia Ling's same style" black coffee.

At the beginning of this year, the film YOLO, directed by and starring Jia Ling, hit the big screen. The weight-loss storyline in the film, combined with her own real physical transformation, made "weight loss" a hot topic of discussion and inspired many beauty-conscious people to start exercising.

As the film's popularity climbed, some manufacturers who caught the scent of the "slimming economy" quickly followed suit, launching black coffee products labeled "Jia Ling's same style" and "produced by YOLO," using the star's image on packaging without authorization and claiming the products had weight-loss effects to attract customers to place orders.

In April, the official Weibo account of the film YOLO issued a reminder to netizens, noting that some merchants, even after multiple complaints, still refused to take down their advertisements and even forged authorization documents, confidently claiming they held authorization from the director or the film's producers. In reality, however, neither the director nor the film's producers had ever endorsed or authorized any fat-loss or sugar-free products, and consumers were urged to be vigilant when encountering products bearing the artist's image to avoid being deceived.

During the same period, Jia Ling filed a lawsuit with the court against a certain Anhui health industry development company. The complaint stated that the company, without obtaining her permission, printed Jia Ling's portrait on the packaging of its "Ms. Jia Black Coffee." The defendant used the appeal of her portrait to induce consumers to buy, thereby earning commercial profits—at the cost of infringing her licensing and portrait rights—a practice that has severely harmed her lawful rights and interests.

Accordingly, Jia Ling requested the court to order the company to stop its infringing acts (including but not limited to deleting the relevant promotional pages and destroying infringing materials), publish a public apology in a newspaper, and compensate for economic losses and reasonable legal costs.

In response to Jia Ling's claims, the defendant company refused to accept them, arguing that it had produced only 5,000 boxes and that the packaging boxes were supplied by a Xiamen business company, and stating: "We genuinely did not recognize it as Jia Ling during our review."

The verdict in this portrait rights dispute was recently made public.

The Qiaocheng District People's Court of Bozhou City, Anhui Province, after trial, found that the Anhui company was the producer of "Ms. Jia TM Black Coffee," and that the prominent position on its outer packaging bore a cartoon image of Jia Ling in a boxing pose. The product was sold on platforms including Taobao, Pinduoduo, and JD.com.

The court held that the defendant company's use of the cartoon image of Jia Ling in a boxing pose on the outer packaging of "Ms. Jia TM Black Coffee" could reflect an identifiable image of Jia Ling, and that this use was made without Jia Ling's consent, constituting an infringement of her portrait rights.

The court pointed out that as a well-known domestic actress and director, Jia Ling's portrait carries a certain commercial value, and the defendant's infringement of her portrait rights would inevitably cause losses to the economic interests embodied in those rights, while also tending to lead the public to mistakenly believe that an endorsement relationship existed between the plaintiff and the defendant manufacturer.

In the end, the court ordered the defendant company to stop the infringement, refrain from continuing to produce goods that infringe Jia Ling's portrait rights, make a public apology, and pay 100,000 yuan in damages.

Image source: Internet

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, a few images and texts may not have been credited in time; please forgive us. If the original author has any dispute, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will immediately correct it. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop"; please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please inform us for removal. Thank you~!

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.