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White House may act on Ortiz-Samsung selfie

April 7, 2014

In this Tuesday, April 1, 2014, file photo, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David “Big Papi” Ortiz takes a selfie with President Barack Obama, holding a Boston Red Sox jersey presented to him, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, where the president honored the 2013 World Series baseball champion Boston Red Sox. Ortiz tweeted the selfie to his followers Tuesday, and it was resent by tens of thousands, including Samsung, which retweeted it as an ad. The White House press secretary says Obama was not aware that the photo was part of a marketing stunt. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

By Kim Yoo-chul

A senior White House official indicated Monday it may take legal action against Samsung over a controversial selfie featuring President Obama.

“We’ve left that conversation between lawyers,” White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer told CBS’s Face the Nation program.

“Perhaps, maybe this will be the end of all selfies. But in general, whenever someone tries to use the president’s likeness to promote a product, that’s a problem with the White House.”

The controversy erupted after Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz took a picture of himself and President Obama during a visit to the White House by the 2013 World Series winners, using Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.

Ortiz, who had signed a contract with Samsung, posted the photo on his Twitter, and Samsung’s U.S. subsidiary later re-twitted this to its followers.

Samsung is being criticized for using Obama’s photo for its commercial interests.

Ortiz told reporters after a game against Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday that, “I got no comment on that. I mean, I’m just a guy that I got signed by Samsung in the offseason.”

“Samsung has a lot of money and the White House has a lot of money, too. They’ll be cool with each other,” he said.

Samsung is now being involved in a blockbuster patent dispute with Apple in the U.S. The firm declined to comment about this issue.