Chuck Yeager, the retired U.S. Air Force pilot who broke the sound barrier, has sued Airbus SE, accusing the aerospace company of using his name and likeness without permission to promote a new high-speed helicopter.
TR report……….In a complaint filed on Wednesday that refers to him as “one of the most, if not the most, famous pilots of all time,” the 96-year-old Yeager objected to a June 2017 piece on Airbus’ website about making the Airbus Racer a fast and cost-effective way to fly.
The piece quoted Guillaume Faury, now Airbus’ chief executive officer and at the time Airbus Helicopters’ CEO, as saying: “Seventy years ago, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier,” and Airbus was now “trying to break the cost barrier. It cannot be ‘speed at any cost.’”
Yeager accused Airbus of trademark infringement and taking away his right of publicity through “fraudulent” conduct, in which it deceived the public into believing he endorsed it.
“This is not a company that sells burritos,” Yeager’s lawyer, Lincoln Bandlow, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “It sells aircraft, and you can’t find a man more valuable to associate with aircraft than Chuck Yeager.”
Airbus spokesmen said the company, which is headquartered in Toulouse, France, had no comment on pending litigation.
If you know little about Yeager this is the title to read
