'Daily Show' comedy turns into Iran spy drama

By Eriq Gardner

Did Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" help cause a Newsweek reporter to be detained by Iranian police for 118 days?

On June 21, Newsweek's Maziar Bahari was taken from his bed and accused of being a spy. In October, Bahari was released. In this week's issue of the magazine, he writes about his ordeal, including an interesting exchange between him and his interrogator ("Mr. Rosewater") during his detention. Bahari writes:

"Well," said Mr. Rosewater, who had been fairly quiet up to this point, "we have interesting video footage of you. That may persuade you to be more cooperative." I could not imagine what that might be. Something personal? Something that might compromise my friends? But…I reminded myself I had done nothing wrong.

I saw the flicker of a laptop monitor under my blindfold. Then I heard someone speaking. It was a recording of another prisoner's confession. "It's not that one," said the second interrogator. "It's the one marked 'Spy in coffee shop.' " Mr. Rosewater fumbled with the computer. The other man stepped in to change the DVD. And then I heard the voice of Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show."

Iran's official wanted to know why Bahari was giving an interview with a "Daily Show" correspondent "dressed like a spy" and why Bahari told the interviewer that Iran and America had a lot in common.

Watch the clip below to see what irked the Iranians; obviously humor doesn't translate very well. Should "The Daily Show" have shown more sensitivity to the hot situation in Iran?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - Persians of Interest
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Is it illegal to watch 'New Moon' free online?

By Eriq Gardner

We were as surprised as everyone to see "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" rake in an estimated $140.7 million in its opening weekend. 

Summit Entertainment has apparently dodged blood-sucking online pirated versions of the film. The Chicago Sun-Times took a look at pirated copies of "New Moon" and asked the question whether watching illegal copyrighted content constitutes theft. A spokesperson for the MPAA says yes, of course. Other lawyers say not necessarily.

"It is certainly illegal to (upload) online copyrighted content," says Steve Englund, a copyright attorney at Jenner & Block. "It is a little more complicated question whether it is illegal to watch it when someone else has put it online."

Leaving aside the legalities of watching pirated content, it's probably worth noting that online marketers (aka spammers) are in the midst of making the consumption of piracy as annoying as possible. For example, watchnewmoon.org makes users fill out surveys and register for coupons in order to "unlock" the content. Other websites do the same.

It may turn out that aggressive spammers are more effective than copyright lawsuits and ethical education in chasing people back to the movie theater.

Hollywood Docket: Miley Cyrus $4 billion lawsuit dismissed; Gosselin contract breach?; Polanski

Entertainment law this morning:

• A judge has finally dismissed the $4 billion lawsuit against Miley Cyrus for violating the civil rights of people of Asian Pacific heritage. The class action lawsuit was filed earlier this year, claiming a photo of Miley and her friends slanting their eyes was discriminatory. The claim has survived in court longer than expected partly because the first judge in the case had to recuse himself after using the word "Oriental" at a hearing. 
• More advertisers are suing each other than ever. Lawyers say they are seeing more complaints and lawsuits over false claims and violation of trademarks. Linda Goldstein, a partner at Manatt Phelps & Phillips, says disputes are becoming part of the "war game" for marketers.
• Radar Online claims to have proof that Jon Gosselin breached his TLC contract. The website posts an audio recording of Gosselin's manager discussing various deals over the phone.  
• A lawyer for Roman Polanski told a French newspaper that the jailed director will not agree voluntarily to be extradited to the United States.
• The telecom and music industry in Japan is experimenting with a new system that will automatically check cell phone web sites for illegal music files. When unauthorized music files are discovered, the music industry will send a request to the source of the illegal files and request the files be deleted.
• James A. Roppo, a senior vp at Island Def Jam Records, was arrested by police after a melee ensued during a Justin Bieber concert in a New York mall. The arrest was made after the record executive allegedly refused to send out a Twitter message to help disperse the horde.

Jury finds libel in fictional character

By Eriq Gardner

Last year, we wrote about attorney Ravi Batra, who convinced the New York Supreme Court not to dismiss a "libel-in-fiction" defamation claim against the TV show "Law & Order" over a corrupt fictional character.

Now comes word of a new success by an individual pushing the same legal theory that fictional characters inspired by real life counterparts can be defamatory.

A Georgia jury has ruled that Haywood Smith, author of the bestselling novel "The Red Hat Club," libeled a former friend who had served as inspiration for a character portrayed as a sexually promiscuous alcoholic. The jury awarded $100,000 in damages to the plaintiff, Vicki Stewart.

In the past, defamation claims based on fictional characters haven't been very successful. (For example, in 1985, Nathaniel Davis, the former US ambassador to Chile, lost a $150 million libel suit against the makers of the Universal film "Missing.") But that might be changing.

In the "Red Hat" case, Smith's lawyers took this case up to the Georgia Court of Appeals before it could be heard by a jury. As a result, the case likely won't amount to a net monetary win for Stewart, who spent five years litigating the battle.

But combined with the Batra victory last year, the decision signals that anybody producing works of fiction shouldn't shrug off defamation liability.

Hollywood Docket: Oscar 'extortion'; Animation investigation; Movie theater popcorn

Entertainment law news this morning:

• Director James Toback has lobbed one heck of a charge against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over the omission of his film, "Tyson," from the Oscar shortlist of 15 documentary films. Toback tells the NY Times. He says he experienced something connected with the selection process, "which I put fully in the category of extortion that I did not go along with."
• SAG is probing animated motion capture technology in advance of negotiations over a new labor deal with the AMPTP. The thesp guild has invited members and non-members to discuss the issue with them on Dec. 3. SAG may push to have specific language in contracts spelling out "wages and working conditions" for motion capture work.
• The MPAA has sent a letter to Congress seeking support for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The international treaty, which would commit nations to new copyright enforcement measures, has been the subject of much controversial speculation due to its secrecy. 
• Jonathan Fuhrman, former vp of legal and business affairs at The Weinstein Company, is penning a new column for Mediaite entitled "Smart Hollywood."
• The waft of buttery popcorn you smell at your local movie theater sniffs to us like a coming class action lawsuit. 

Mickey Mouse sues Donald Duck. Yes, really

By Eriq Gardner

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it still may not be a duck.

That's the only conclusion we can draw from seeing that Mickey Mouse has filed a trademark infringement claim against Donald Duck yesterday in Florida Southern District Court. 

Yes, an actual lawsuit was filed by an apparently clever and totally anonymous prankster. 

Mickey Mouse is being represented by Juan Abagado. ("Abagado" means "lawyer" in Spanish.) Donald Duck is being represented by Pluto. And the deputy clerk in the case is Goofy, who has issued the summons.

(Hat tip to Legal Pad.)

Tom Cruise again hangs with lawyers, this time for Scientology

By Eriq Gardner

Tom Cruise is making a habit of showing up in Boston to hang out with lawyers.

Last month, he enrolled at Harvard Law School for a few hours to hear a lecture from his attorney Bert Fields. On Tuesday, he was back in the city to pay tribute to the legendary Massachusetts attorney Earle C. Cooley, who died of heart failure last month.

Cruise, whose legal credentials include "A Few Good Men," "Jerry Maguire" and "The Firm," hobnobbed with judges, former attorney generals and defense lawyers at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse. A few attorneys grabbed Cruise for the pictorial trophy wall. 

No, Cruise is not aiming to switch careers after being named by Forbes this week as one of "Hollywood's 10 most overpaid stars." Instead, he showed up to honor Cooley, who was the Church of Scientology's top lawyer for many years.

Then again, perhaps Cruise could pose as a lawyer. One attendee told the Boston Herald that she thought Cruise was "just another lawyer" in the crowd. Maybe the A-list star's next project will finally earn Cruise universal recognition by the bar. After all, in his next film, he'll be playing a fugitive from justice.

Hollywood Docket: Beatles injunction; Rin Tin Tin trademark ; Joe Francis

Entertainment law news this morning:

• A federal judge has extended an injunction against Bluebeat.com, preventing the sale of Beatles and other EMI tunes on the website. The court was unconvinced that the technological process used to create "new" recordings entitled Bluebeat to a copyright claim over the Beatles catalogue. Bluebeat.com owner says he's "shocked" at the ruling because the company "worked with EMI directly, and the RIAA, in secret agreements to create these works lawfully."
• Turner Broadcasting has asked a Georgia appeals court to overturn a $281 million jury verdict — the largest in state history — tied to a broken agreement that Turner made to sell two professional sports franchises to a Texas businessman. Lawyers for Turner are arguing that it's inconceivable that such a major transaction would be based on an oral agreement.
• Nu Image and First Look Studios won't have to destroy DVD copies of their film "Finding Rin Tin Tin: The Adventure Continues." The owner of a Rin Tin Tin museum, who holds the trademark over the phrase, sued the film companies, but a Texas district judge has ruled that the film's title is descriptive of a historical subject, and thus is fair use.
• "Girls Gone Wild" creator Joe Francis is now out of prison, but things aren't going much better for the troubled adult entertainment visionary. The IRS has filed a federal tax lien against Francis for $34 million. 
• Speaking of adult entertainment, Vivid Entertainment acquired the Carrie Prejean sex tape. Vivid is offering Prejean $1 million for the right to distribute the tape, and Prejean's lawyer is threatening to sue the porn company for invasion of privacy, publicity rights, public disclosure of private facts and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, is not happy that The Times of London took a tribute to the late actor Edward Woodward he penned on his blog and reprinted his words without permission as a featured column.
• Bitter Lawyer interviews THR Next Generation honoree Tara Kole. She explains how she went from clerking for Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia to entertainment work at Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown.

Beck sues label for control of mid-90s album

By Eriq Gardner

Beck has always had a taste for multiple genres of music, and he's just as polymorphous as a businessman, releasing three albums back in 1994 on three different labels and making oral agreements for album rights.

This kind of informality has a way of catching up with entertainers. According to a new lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Beck Hansen has had trouble gaining control of his 1994 album "Stereopathetic Soulmanure."

In 1993, the rocker made an "oral agreement" with Flipside Records. Beck allowed the label to sell this album in return for 50 percent of profits and an accounting on a semi-annual basis.

Now Beck says he was stiffed. 

On June 30, 2008, he sent a written notice terminating Flipside's rights to "Stereopathetic Soulmanure." Flipside stopped selling the album. But another distributor, Revolver USA, allegedly didn't.

According to the complaint, Flipside had "an obvious and direct financial interest in" Revolver and "induced, caused, or materially contributed to such infringing contract."

In September, Beck sent a letter demanding Revolver destroy all remaining inventory and return the master, DAT, and other materials to him. 

Unsuccessful in that effort, he is now suing both companies for copyright infringement and breach of oral contract. He's pursuing damages and wants all remaining copies of the album impounded.

Beck is repped by Howard King and Seth Miller at LA's King Holmes Paterno & Berliner.

Hollywood Docket: Fox spies on Redbox; Arnold & Porter gets in line with Jackson creditors; studios vs. OpenBitTorrent

Entertainment law news this morning:

• Over the past year, various studios have told their distributors to withhold DVDs from low-cost rental kiosk service Redbox for a period of time after release. In response, Redbox filed an antitrust lawsuit and has recently tried to exploit the "first sale doctrine" by purchasing DVDs at full retail prices. The NY Times reports that Fox has spied on 1,105 Redbox kiosks in 35 states to determine whether the new strategy is working. Also, THR has a Q&A with Redbox CEO Mitch Lowe.
• How much would it cost Bob Weinstein to buy the "Miramax" trademark from Disney? "We want the name back," says the movie mogul in an interview with NY Magazine.
• The Arnold & Porter firm is the latest to file a lawsuit against the Michael Jackson estate for owed money. The firm's lawyers, among many in the legal world to have represented the late singer, say they are owed $164,800 in legal fees. 
• The Swedish retailer who tried to trademark The Pirate Bay logo has decided to withdraw its registration of the mark. Meanwhile, in other file-sharing news, several Hollywood studios have filed a lawsuit against OpenBitTorrent, a rebranded copy of the The Pirate Bay torrent shut down yesterday. 
• Social Action Network is asking a court to order Twitter to give up information that can help identify individuals who have allegedly made defamatory statements on the network. The company advertises itself as helping others strive for a higher purpose.
• Google has introduced a new search service that will let users dig through case law. Here's some background on why it's taken so long.