Luxury Mattress Company Hold Its Ground Post Being Sued By NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks has allegedly filed a lawsuit against Erica Gleaton, the creator and CEO of Maree Mattress Company.

A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports claims that despite purportedly not having his consent, the company’s use of his headshot to promote its brand is one of the main causes of the case.

Luxury Mattress Company Hold Its Ground Post Being Sued By NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo

Yet Maree stated that it had “the express permission to use his name and image in marketing per the terms of our signed contract, for which he received a discount on the services and products he purchased.”

Perez pointed out that the business called Antetokounmpo a customer and congratulated him on his title using Antetokounmpo’s image in an Instagram post that was later removed.

On Tuesday, the 6-foot-11 power forward filed the case in the Eastern District of Wisconsin U.S. District Court. Eleni Melekou, his lawyer, made a statement about the status of affairs between the two sides.

“Despite [Antetokounmpo] multiple efforts to contact the defendants, defendants have failed to cooperate with [Antetokounmpo] and comply with their contractual obligations by fixing or substituting the defects of their products or issuing a refund to [Antetokounmpo],” Melekou wrote in the complaint that FOS obtained. “Moreover, defendants have refused to cease using the Antetokounmpo rights for advertisement and commercial purposes despite having received a cease-and-desist letter from [Antetokounmpo].”

Giannis further claimed in the complaint that the corporation had misjudged the number of beds that would be delivered to Athens, Greece. The Bucks star reportedly requested 43 things from Maree, but only received 11. Antetokounmpo also received some faulty merchandise from the supplier.

“We are saddened that Mr. Antetokounmpo’s management team has decided to move forward with a lawsuit to resolve the issue in court rather than amicably with our company,” Maree said in a statement to FOS. “We have had a long-standing relationship with Mr. Antetokounmpo over many years and the recent miscommunications appear to reflect the misinformed management team rather than the actual facts.”

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin on Tuesday, Antetokounmpo seeks an injunction to stop Maree from using his likeness in promotional materials as well as a full refund of $92,003, which includes $20,000 in shipping fees to get the beds delivered to his native Greece.

As far as the use of Antetokounmpo’s likeness, Maree said it has “the express permission to use his name and image in marketing per the terms of our signed contract, for which he received a discount on the services and products he purchased.”

 

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