Clint Eastwood Raised $ 6.1 million in CBD lawsuit

By Phil Hall

Clint Eastwood may have stumbled at the box office with the release of his latest film, “Cry Macho,” but the 91-year-old actor / director scored a $ 6.1 million win against a Lithuanian cannabidiol (CBD) company, who used his name and image in their product marketing without his permission.

What happened: According to a New York Times report, Eastwood and Garrapata, the company that owns the rights to his likeness, received $ 6 million in damages, $ 95,000 to cover legal fees, and a permanent restraining order against future use of his name or Image by Mediatonas UAB. who posted fake interviews with Eastwood that appeared to be an advocate of CBD and considering retiring from filmmaking to focus on the CBD industry.

Photo by Slaven Vlasic / Stringer / Getty Images

“In truth, Mr. Eastwood has no connection with CBD products and has never given such an interview,” said the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles in July 2020.

Eastwood’s legal victory was a default judgment because Mediatonas UAB failed to respond to a subpoena issued in March to appear in court to answer the charges.

What else happened: Eastwood has filed two other lawsuits in this matter. The first was against three CBD companies – Sera Labs Inc, Greendios and For Our Vets LLC – which he accused of creating the fraudulent interviews and distributing them in spam emails with the subject line “Clint Eastwood Exposes Shocking Secret Today” .

The second lawsuit was against 10 US companies and individuals whom he accused of inserting his name into hidden meta tags intended to direct online searches to their CBD-related websites.

RELATED: Clint Eastwood Confirms He Will Not Quit Movies To Sell Cannabis

“Like many of his most famous characters, Mr. Eastwood is not afraid to confront wrongdoing and hold those who try to illegally profit from his name or likeness to account,” Eastwood’s lawsuit read.

However, Eastwood was unable to get the court to claim that the unauthorized use of his name and image was responsible for libel claims.

“It takes additional context to understand what CBD products are and why a person like Clint Eastwood would not advocate a marijuana-based product,” wrote Judge R. Gary Klausner in his ruling, adding that the language used “At first glance it was not defamatory”. “

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.