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Sharapova taken to court for right to sell documentary

A Florida production company has sued last year's Wimbledon champion, Maria Sharapova, in a US federal court, seeking approval to sell a documentary about Russian women tennis players.

According to the suit filed on Monday in the US District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Sharapova objected to the use of her name and image in the documentary, Anna's Army: Behind the Rise of Russian Women's Tennis, which was produced by Byzantium Productions Inc, of West Palm Beach.

The documentary, whose title refers to former WTA Tour pro Anna Kournikova, has been sold in DVD format since May in the US and abroad, and has also been broadcast on television in the US and Russia.

"In this country ... we have the right to make documentaries about current events, subjects of interests. Those documentaries often involve celebrities," said attorney Martin Reeder Jr, who represents Byzantium.

"My clients hope to earn a profit on this one," he said.

In late September, an attorney for IMG, the agency which represents Sharapova and her company, SW19 Inc, sent a letter accusing Byzantium of misappropriating Sharapova's identity, infringing on her company's commercial trademark and legal rights, and on Sharapova's personal rights, privacy rights and common law trademark rights, according to the suit, which was assigned to US District Judge William Dimitrouleas.

"They sent a cease and desist letter demanding that Byzantium stop using her image and name, either in advertising or in the documentary itself, and threatening to sue," Reeder said.

Work on the documentary began in 2003. Byzantium president Philip Johnston, former chief sports editor for the Moscow Times, and vice president Peter Geisler interviewed former champions Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and others for the documentary, which includes historical material noting that writer Leo Tolstoy played tennis and was the first president of the Moscow Tennis Club.
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