Maria Sharapova fights with Anna Kournikova over DVD cover

An American company sued Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova to manifest its right to use her photo and name in a DVD edition of the documentary devoted to Russian women in tennis.

On Monday the suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Sharapova was against 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 main characters of the documentary are Russian female tennis players who enjoy quite high world ratings, Anna Kournikova among them. DVDs with the documentary were distributed in the USA and other countries; the film was broadcast on TV in Russia and the USA.

Designers of the DVD packaging placed on its front cover photos of Maria Sharapova and eight other female tennis players. One can also see Sharapova’s name written next to the names of five other athletes on the back cover. However, the Russian tennis star objected to the use of her name, ITAR-TASS reports.

In late September, Sharapova’s lawyers accused Byzantium of misappropriating Sharapova's image, infringing upon her company's commercial trademark and legal rights, and Sharapova's personal rights, privacy rights.

Byzantium Productions, Inc said Monday that “it has rights to create documentaries about modern events, things and interests. The date of the court hearings has not been determined yet.