A Bizarre Heineken Ad Featuring Spock Ended With A Lawsuit From Leonard Nimoy

The daring crew of the Starship Enterprise must be ready to boldly go where no other man has gone before. But Star Trek icon Leonard Nimoy was not willing to be a part of an ad for Heineken—especially in a suggestive promotion made without his consent.

Nimoy premiered the role of Spock in the original 1966 Star Trek series and would take up the pointy-eared mantle again and again right up through to 2013 for Star Trek: Into Darkness. Paramount has owned the right to Star Trek since buying it from a surprising source, and it was at the studio that Nimoy leveled his grievances when he discovered he was featured in a Heineken ad as Spock without ever granting permission—or receiving compensation.

Leonard Nimoy was more surprised than anyone to see his Spock in a Heineken ad

Perhaps no one was more shocked than Nimoy to learn his face, done up fully in costume as Spock, was being used to promote Heineken. He found out gradually. Nimoy went out to a bar, where he was asked by the bartender, “You want a Heineken, right?”

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At the time, Nimoy couldn’t have known for sure why the bartender made this assumption; maybe that was a local favorite. In any case, he said no, he wouldn’t, got his beverage of choice, and went on his way.

Then, while speaking with Henry Fonda, Nimoy was asked how much he was getting paid for all the Star Trek-themed Heineken billboards. What billboards? The billboards all over town featuring a close-up of Spock’s face; his pointy ears start out drooping until he gets a good swig of the drink in question and they’re able to perk back up.

Time for retaliation

As it turned out, Nimoy was receiving no compensation for the ad; he was never approached and never signed off on using his likeness in this manner. The details of Nimoy’s ordeal came to light in For the Love of Spock, a documentary released by his son in 2016, in honor of Star Trek’s 50th anniversary and in remembrance of Nimoy a year after his passing.

In response to this advertising move, Nimoy sued Paramount, which owned the rights to Star Trek since buying the rights from none other than Desilu Studios—the brainchild of the formative TV pioneers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz—in the ‘70s; this reportedly only happened because the studio signed off on it.

The case festered in court, refusing to go quietly into the night for either party, long enough that as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Nimoy ground his heels into the dirt and refused to take part while his lawsuit remained in the system. This ended up being a key for negotiations to move forward; he agreed to look at the script as long as they settled. Not long after, Nimoy was given a settlement check and a copy of the latest script arrived for him not long after.