Posted Apr 16th 2009 2:05AM by TMZ Staff
One of the stars of the US Olympic swim team has his mankini in a bunch over his image -- and no, it's not Michael Phelps.
Aaron Peirsol, who was the backstroking part of that awesome gold medal winning 4x100 meter medley team in the '08 games, is suing a marketing company who allegedly used his image in swimwear ads without proper permission.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Orange County, Peirsol claims the marketing company placed the ads in Swimming World Magazine and USMS Magazine, knowing the magazines would be heavily distributed in Orange County -- Aaron's hometown.
Peirsol is suing for licensing fees, attorney fees, and punitive damages.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Talk Sports
Tags: aaron peirsol, aaron piersol, AaronPeirsol, AaronPiersol, lawsuit, olympic swim team, olympic swimmer, suit, swiming world magazine, swimming
Posted May 28th 2008 1:14PM by TMZ Staff
Mark Spitz -- the guy who won seven swimming gold medals back at the 1972 Olympics -- says a freaky-weird soap company is killing him one bottle at a time, and he wants them to stop ... or at least pay him for it.
Spitz is PO'd because, he says in a lawsuit, he's mentioned in the same breath on the labels of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps as a bunch of guys like Jesus, Mohammed, Lenin, Carl Sagan, and Einstein -- all of whom are dead. Not only that, he says his name is being used to push the line of hippie soaps without his permission, and if the company's going to call him a prophet, which they do, he wants to see some, ahem, profit.
We put in a call to the company, and they tell us they'll give Spitz free soap for life and make a donation to the charity of his choice -- if he settles.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Tags: Dr. Bronners Magic Soaps, Dr.BronnersMagicSoaps, Mark Spitz, MarkSpitz, olympic swimmer, OlympicSwimmer
