Allen agrees to $5m settlement in image lawsuit

WOODY ALLEN agreed yesterday to a $5 million (€3.7m) settlement in his lawsuit accusing a trendy clothing company of using an image parodying him as a rabbi without his permission.

Both sides announced the settlement, to be paid by American Apparel’s insurance company, on the morning a trial was to start in federal court in Manhattan. Reading from a statement outside court, Allen said he hoped the outcome “would discourage American Apparel or anyone else from ever trying such a thing again”.

American Apparel president, Dov Charney, told reporters it wasn’t his decision to settle. The company’s insurance company “controlled the defence” in the case, he said.

“I’m not sorry [for] expressing myself,” he said.

Allen, 72, sued the company last year for $10m (€7.4m) after the advertisements turned up on billboards in Hollywood and New York and on a website. Using a frame from the film Annie Hall, the ads depicted Allen as a Hasidic Jew – long beard, side curls, black hat – and featured Yiddish text meaning “the holy rebbe”.

Court papers filed on Allen’s behalf had described the actor-director as one of the most influential figures in the history of American film, and say he believes maintaining strict control over his image has been critical to his success.

The papers claimed Allen had not done commercials in the US since the 1960s, when he was a struggling stand-up comic. The billboards falsely implied he endorsed a clothing line known for its racy advertising – a “blatant misappropriation and commercial use of Allen’s image”.

American Apparel lawyers called the $10m demand “outrageous”, especially since the billboards were taken down after a week. They also threatened to call Allen’s former longtime companion, actress Mia Farrow, and his current wife, Soon-Yi Previn, as witnesses to show that his image has already been devalued by scandal.

Previn is Farrow’s adopted daughter.

Charney said the billboards were misunderstood.

“We would never try to malign the dignity of Mr Allen,” he said.