The Court of Appeal of Lithuania has upheld a ruling ordering Giedrius Bučinskas, former head of the local company Mediatonas, to pay 200,000 euros to 96-year-old Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood. The multi-year international dispute stemmed from an online campaign promoting products containing cannabidiol (CBD, an active compound derived from cannabis). The Lithuanian firm published photographs of the filmmaker alongside fabricated quotes without authorization, misleading consumers into believing the Oscar winner personally used the extract and endorsed it for health purposes.
Sham liquidation instead of American millions
The legal battle began in 2021 in the United States, where a federal court in Los Angeles awarded Eastwood $6.1 million (around 5.26 million euros) in damages. However, enforcing the American verdict directly proved impossible because the decision was not legally binding in the Baltic jurisdiction, and Bučinskas promptly initiated liquidation proceedings for Mediatonas, ignoring external creditors’ claims and transferring the remaining assets to himself. To hold the entrepreneur accountable, the actor and Garrapata LLC, which manages his publicity rights, filed a lawsuit directly against him as an individual in Lithuania.
Clint Eastwood reputation as a measure of damages
Reviewing the case in May 2026, the Klaipėda Regional Court reduced the plaintiffs’ claim to 200,000 euros and rejected the defendant’s subsequent appeal. The court emphasized that Eastwood had established an exceptional reputation over decades in the industry and rarely took part in commercial advertising campaigns. Consequently, the unauthorized association of his name with cannabis supplements caused direct financial and reputational harm to the rights holders. The awarded sum will be split equally between Eastwood and Garrapata LLC.
