Be Careful What You Pose For

When I see an old black and white photograph of some random person, long-dead, hanging on a wall of some trying-hard-to-be-vintage restaurant, I sometimes muse, I wonder if that person back in 1889 had any idea that she was posing for a photograph that would someday hang conspicuously in a Pot Belly Sandwich Works on 12th and F in Washington, DC?

Well, what if that person were not dead and the photo made its way onto the jar of one of the most well-known, recognizable instant coffees selling in the US, and it took you 16 YEARS to realize it?

Enter, the Taster's Choice Guy, and you know who I'm talking about:

A jury in Los Angeles has awarded the model-turned-kindergarten teacher more than $15 million for using the image without Russell Christoff's permission. Nestle said it will appeal.

Christoff said he didn't know Nestle was using the picture he posed for in 1986 until he spotted himself on a label in 2002.

Why did it take the man so many years to spot his image on the coffee jar? He says he doesn't drink freeze-dried Taster's Choice. As he puts it, "I do beans."