Sacha Baron Cohen sues cannabis company for copyright infringement
Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is suing a US medical cannabis company for its use of his controversial Borat character on a billboard advertisement without his authorisation.
Baron Cohen filed the suit against Solar Therapeutics on Monday, July 12, at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The suit accused Solar of “willful copyright infringement, false advertising, and violation of the Massachusetts statute against misappropriation of rights of publicity”.
The character of Borat Margaret Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional journalist from Kazakhstan and is the main protagonist of the mockumentary “ Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006) and its sequel “ Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2020).
‘Copyright infringement’
The filing states that the Massachusetts-based company infringed Baron Cohen’s copyright and carried out false advertising by using the “portrait, picture, image, likeness, and persona of” the Borat character.
It stated that “without permission of any kind”, Solar deliberately featured the character on a commercial billboard on a busy interstate highway in Massachusetts to advertise the sale of its cannabis products”. The disputed ad features Baron Cohen as Borat, with his thumbs up and the character’s catchphrase “it’s nice!”
This ad, said the complaint, reached hundreds of thousands of viewers a day for
several weeks and the company falsely led the public to believe that Baron Cohen had endorsed their products and is affiliated with its business.
The filing insisted that Baron Cohen does not condone the use of cannabis and “never has used cannabis in his life, and would never participate in an advertising campaign for cannabis, for any amount of money”.
It added that Baron Cohen has never been involved in advertising any commercial products or services anywhere in the US or the UK, despite countless opportunities to do so.
The actor refuses to endorse products over concerns that it would “weaken his credibility as an actor and a serious social activist,” the filing said, adding that the actor once turned down a $4 million offer to appear in a car commercial.
‘Taking a gamble’
Instead, Baron Cohen has used the comedic devices of satire and parody to reach and educate people around the world on important social issues, including gun control, racism, holocaust denial, homophobia, sexism, and anti-semitism, the filing said.
The complaint accused the cannabis company of believing that Baron Cohen would not learn about the billboard, and of “taking a gamble”, presuming it could copy and use the Borat image “without ever having to pay for it”.
According to the complaint, Solar Therapeutics’ sales revenues are around $26 million a year and Baron Cohen is seeking market value compensation, statutory treble damages, and punitive damages, of at least $9 million.
