Jasper Pääkkönen lost the kalsari court – Appeal to the court

Actor Jasper Pääkkönen lost the legal battle Lähde & CO Oy against the company.

Pääkkönen demanded damages of 300,000 euros from the company in return for an unjustified advantage. The court finally decided to dismiss the lawsuit. Pääkkönen is obliged to pay court costs of 84,140 euros and compensation of 14,381 euros.

According to the court, Pääkkönen has never presented evidence that the advertising carried out by The Other Danish Guy brand was harmful to him. The prosecutor states in the judgment that in the case there are also no signs that the Lähde & CO Oy company has in any way benefited from the use of Pääkkönen’s name, voice or image in marketing.

The verdict shows that there is no positive spike in the company’s sales during Pääkkönen’s campaign.

The prosecutor states in the verdict that there was a reason for using the pictures taken from Pääkkö, because the matter was agreed upon in advance.

Jasper Pääkkönen commented on the matter Facebookin his profile. According to Pääkkönen, the district court has made an incorrect decision.

– I consider that the district court has made an incorrect decision when it stated that the Danish Guy hosiery company had the right to publish TV, radio and internet advertisements made without asking my permission, Pääkkönen writes.

– In my view, this creates a completely uncontrollable situation for performers working in the entertainment industry. According to the district court’s decision, any company that had a cooperation agreement with a well-known person could make and publish national advertising campaigns using their name and face freely, even if it was not agreed in the agreement, he continues.

Appeal to the Court of Appeal

Pääkkönen states in his public Facebook update that he will appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal. He wants to defend his own rights, but above all the rights of other performers working in the entertainment industry.

– It cannot be the case that any company that has any small-scale partnership agreement with a public figure would be entitled to publish huge TV advertising campaigns without asking for permission, especially if the company’s management had assured when making the agreement that all marketing measures would be agreed separately, and that the performer has full right to decide what kind of marketing he is involved in, states Pääkkönen.

– Performers should have the legal right to decide on the use of their own name and image, Pääkkönen concludes his article.

The dispute was brought before the Helsinki District Court in April 2022.

The case involved a dispute with an underwear company. The company sold breeches under the trade name The Other Danish Guy. The alleged events took place in 2021.

Pääkkönen’s company had signed a brand ambassador contract with Lähde & CO Oy in 2018. Pääkkönen himself owns 2.5 percent of the company in question.

The legal battle was about whether the company is allowed to use pictures, videos and sound recordings taken from Pääkkösen in its advertising campaigns. Pääkkönen emphasized several times that the underwear company had no right to use his name in marketing, but that he had only participated in podcast recordings.

In connection with the podcast recordings, pictures were taken to be published on the underwear company’s website to promote the podcast. Pääkkönen said that he was surprised when, in August 2021, the pictures of him in kilts ended up in a TV commercial.

– Feeling grossly exploited, Pääkkönen described his feelings in court last April.

The ex-rapper testified

One of the witnesses of the legal battle was the rap artist Jare Tiihonen, who ended his career. Pääkkönen said during the trial that he and Tiihonen are good friends and have many friends in common.

In April, Tiihonen estimated in court that the compensation amounts to be paid for advertising campaigns will range from 100,000 euros upwards. He said that the campaign and its content must be agreed together with the advertising face. The wider the campaign, the bigger the price.

Tiihonen himself said that he did advertising campaigns “little and carefully”. In April, Jasper Pääkkönen’s “market value” was reviewed several times at the trial. In Tiihonen’s opinion, Pääkkönen belonged to the highest class.

– I would put Jasper in the best brand value category. He is one of the most famous and if not even the most successful Finnish actor, Tiihonen assesses Pääkkönen’s brand value in court.

Not a superstar

Former editor-in-chief of Seiska magazine, current communications agency entrepreneur Marko Petäjäjärvi was heard as an expert witness called by Lähde & CO. In court, he had a different view of Pääkkönen’s market value.

In Petäjäjärvi’s opinion, Pääkkönen belonged to the A category of Finnish public figures, but he is not a superstar.

– You could say that the late Vesa-Matti Loiri could have been in the superstar class. He was multi-talented and an iconic figure, Petäjäjärvi assessed in the session.

According to Petäjäjärvi, an A-class celebrity can earn 20,000–30,000 euros as an advertising face. A superstar, the kind Petäjäjärvi counts Teemu Selänte, Kimi Räikkönen and Iivo Niskanen as, among others, can earn more than 100,000 euros. Petäjäjärvi stated in court that even Tiihonen could have earned more than 100,000 euros from one advertising campaign at the peak of his career.

– Usually, influencers talk about their own prices to the top, but based on experience, I say that the price usually comes down through negotiation, Petäjäjärvi explained.

In Petäjäjärvi’s opinion, the ads did not harm Pääkkönen’s brand. She appealed to fashionable body positivity. According to him, the advertisements gave a “confident image” of Pääkkösen.