Talk about pictures circulating forever.

[theweaselking]

See that guy?

For 18 years, he's been the "Nescafe instant coffee guy".

He didn't know.

He hasn't been paid.

He sued.

Russell Christoff, a former model from Northern California, posed for a two-hour Nestle photo shoot in 1986 but figured it was a bust -- until he stumbled across his likeness on a coffee jar while shopping at a drug store in 2002.

A legal dispute with Nestle USA ensued, during which Christoff, 58, declined the company's $100,000 settlement offer, and Nestle USA turned down his offer to to settle for $8.5 million.

Last week, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury ordered Nestle USA to pay Christoff $15.6 million for using his likeness without his permission and profiting from it. The award includes 5 percent of the Glendale-based company's profit from Taster's Choice sales from 1997 to 2003.

Christoff, who while working as a model had appeared in corporate training videos and hosted his own public television show, is now a kindergarten teacher in the Bay Area community of Antioch.

He first came across his picture while shopping for bloody mary mix, and says there's a good reason he didn't spot it sooner.

"I don't buy Taster's Choice," he said. "I do beans."

Comments

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Um ... ok ... how did it go 18 years before he realized it?
That's amazing.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Russell Christoff, a former model from Northern California, posed for a two-hour Nestle photo shoot in 1986 but figured it was a bust

Nestle USA attorney Lawrence Heller said the company would appeal the verdict.
"The employee that pulled the photo thought they had consent to use the picture," Heller said.

He first came across his picture while shopping for bloody mary mix, and says there's a good reason he didn't spot it sooner.
"I don't buy Taster's Choice," he said. "I do beans."