George Won Clothing Line Case!

melbert wrote:The three who tried to pass off the clothing line using George's name were found guilty in Milan. There's jail time for them and George received compensation.

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It's in Italian, but I just googled it to english so I could read it. I don't know how to post it translated. Sorry.

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George Clooney 'turns Italian court into Hollywood movie set'

George Clooney has appeared in court in Italy to give evidence in a case against three people accused of fraudulently using his name for a fashion brand.

The defendants, Vincenzo Cannalire, Francesco Galdelli and Vanja Goffi, are said to have used the 49-year-old actor's name and image to promote the GC Exclusive clothing brand.

On taking to the witness stand in Milan, Clooney said photos purporting to show him with the defendants had been doctored and that his signature had been forged on documents.

His testimony was interrupted on several occasions by screaming fans in the public gallery, while he was mobbed outside the courtroom.

At one point the judge even compared proceedings to a scene from the set of a Hollywood movie.

Despite the atmosphere in the courtroom Clooney managed to keep his cool and point out inconsistencies in what was claimed to be his signature on contracts.

The Ocean's Eleven star also rebuffed suggestions that the business relationship may have grown out of a romance between himself and Ms Goffi.

Clooney insisted he had never met the woman, despite a string of internet rumours claiming they had been an item.

Fans and journalists were denied a further insight into the actor's private life after the judge ruled questions about his friendships with a number of Italian women were not relevant to the case.

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Smoking Gun: Clooney Would Never Wear Such Hideous Denim Shorts

Published on May 12th, 2011 by Andri Antoniades

Because the Trial of the Century needed to get more strange…Styleite released a few choice details about the recent criminal proceedings which found three GC Exclusive employees guilty of using George Clooney’s likeness to sell their clothes without his permission. The Italian trial ended yesterday with Vanja Goffi and Francesco Galdelli receiving prison sentences of over three years each, while their cohort Vincenzo Cannalire received just under two years.

It turns out, the three didn’t swipe Clooney’s face for their ads. They actually Photoshopped his head onto another man’s as proof that the actor attended meetings with them and gave his approval for their fashion line.

According to Styleite, during his testimony in Milan last year, Clooney refuted the validity of the pictures: “Here, for instance. I don’t smoke and I don’t wear that watch.” Then he paused and added, “I also don’t wear long jean shorts.” Of course you don’t George, you’re not a character out of a 90s sitcom.

Later on the stand, Clooney asserted that documents submitted by the defendants and supposedly signed by him were fraudulent. Clooney stated he’d never even met the defendants, and then turned in their direction and said, “…I’d like to say hello, nice to meet you.”

Goffi, Galdelli, and Cannalire will not only go to prison, but pay 130,00 euros in fines. That doesn’t include restitution from any future civil proceedings, which are most likely forthcoming.

I wonder if Clooney was more offended that they used his name, or that they portrayed him as a smoker who dresses like Sinbad…Probably the latter…

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Even on the Stand, There's No Stopping George Clooney's Charm

by Gina Serpe Fri., Jul. 16, 2010

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The defense calls George Clooney to the stand? Lucky defense.

The Oscar winner turned up in a Milan courtroom this morning to testify against two men and a woman accused of coopting his good name to promote their fledgling fashion line, which they not so cunningly called GC Exclusive by George Clooney.

Not exactly the workings of a criminal mastermind, but let this be a warning: if the fashion police don't get you, George Clooney will. The star testifier—who incidentally turned up in a navy suit, crisp white shirt and red-spotted blue tie—is suing the trio for roughly $3.88 million (or 3 million euro) for using his name to promote their fashion line without his knowledge or approval.

There were no cameras allowed in the courtroom for the two-hour hearing, but there were plenty of fans on hand and the judge repeatedly had to call for quiet as their buzzing made it difficult to hear from other witnesses.

Clooney's time on the stand lasted just 30 minutes and at times laughter could be heard emanating from the courtroom. That Clooney. Always a card.

Under questioning, he was shown documents from the defense of paperwork that seemingly bore his signature. Clooney explained that most of the John Hancocks were fakes and the ones that resembled his actual signature were actually photocopies of autographs he's handed out over the years.

"I want to explain well," Italy's Corriere della Sera quoted Clooney (who addressed the court through an interpreter) as saying. "There are false signatures and then there are photocopies of the same signature, repeated 100 times. I want to say [they are] exactly the same signature. We've compared the sheets and they match perfectly.

"My signature is very easy to find on the Internet. But if someone wanted to borrow my signature, they should borrow various signatures of mine, not always the same one for 100 times."

Clooney then turned to the defendant (only one of the three was present in court) and sarcastically congratulated him on the scam.

"This is the first time I've seen him. So I'd like to say hello, nice to meet you...You've done a good job—very good. You should be proud of yourself."

The judge asked him to avoid making similar comments, but perhaps he was just getting the defense's lawyer back for the gem he uttered earlier in the hearing: "We all know that Mr. Clooney is an actor—perhaps he is acting here?"

No doubt both utterings caused a few nervous giggles, but that was nothing compared to the raucous laugh riot George caused by quoting, well, himself, at the end of his testimony: "No Martini, no party." (Apparently, this is a lot funnier if you're Italian.)

Also put before Clooney during the hearing were doctored photos of him with the designing trio, particularly the woman. A picture of Vanja Goffi photoshopped to appear alongside Clooney (in place of an ex-girlfriend) has been widely circulated in Italy and sparked numerous tabloid stories about a possible romance between the duo.

It was these rumors Clooney was addressing when he got asked if he'd ever seen the woman before:
"Of course, I have seen her for the last three years in every single interview story nearly every day. I've never met her. I've never seen her."

He also took issue with some of the other promotional photos the trio had used of Clooney. On most of them, the group had edited Clooney's head onto another person's body, resulting in some curious critiquing on the stand.

"Here, for instance, I don't smoke and I don't wear that watch," Clooney said. "I also don't wear long jean shorts."

At the end of the hearing, Judge Pietro Caccialanza thanked Clooney for his time and said the proceeding, funnily enough, "has lasted as long as a movie."

Here's hoping it provides the same happy ending.