In 2012, a judge ruled Safeway had violated the Illinois Right of Publicity Act, and it is now down to a jury to decide the extent of the damages the basketball star will receive, which could range up to $10 million (£6.3 million).
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Lawyers for Dominick’s say $15m vastly overstates the market value of their ad. They say the $7600 cease-and-desist demands and the $152,000 Jordan accepted from the Japanese TV station are fairer comparisons to what it would have paid.
Questions are also expected to arise about Jordan’s lucrative endorsement deals with multiple companies, including Nike, as the sides seek to establish the value of his image.
Nike and several of those companies that sponsor Jordan are trying to prevent the exact numbers they pay the former Chicago Bulls superstar from being revealed during a court case ongoing in Chicago.
Later in the day, one of the plaintiff’s first witnesses – Estee Portnoy, a marketing executive hired by Jordan – described how her boss meticulously guards his image. Sperling said that Jordan made $100 million off his name in 2014 alone.
Jordan, 52, entered through the front doors of the courthouse Tuesday after Judge John Blakey denied his request to use a security tunnel.
Jordan didn’t testify today but could take the stand as early as tomorrow.
The ad at issue ran in a limited-edition issue of Sports Illustrated magazine published in 2009 to commemorate Jordan’s induction into basketball’s Hall of Fame.
She said Jordan’s handlers “very carefully manage Michael and work with him on his brand”. “It’s the use of his identity”, Frederick Sperling said in a federal courtroom in Chicago.
Basically Jordan’s camp is saying that he would never do a deal for less than $10 million, matching up with how he’s done it in the last decade.
Regardless, she said Jordan’s team had begun “looking for ways to remind people that Michael had played”.
The ultimate deal included a $2.5 million payment to Jordan and $2.1 million in benefits to his professional basketball team in Charlotte.
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Ganis praised Jordan’s savvy ability to cultivate his image and extend his worth long after his career, likening it to that of Arnold Palmer. “You’ve got to show me a reason why this particular term means something”, he told the Safeway attorneys.
