Larry King bagel company sued over 'patented water'

By Eriq Gardner

A new lawsuit answers three great questions:

1. What is TV and radio personality Larry King up to now that he's bowing to Piers Morgan as host of a nightly CNN talk show?
2. Why can't we get a good bagel outside of Brooklyn?
3. Can you patent a process for making water?

Obviously, the answers are connected.

Disney, Warner Bros. sue to stop advertising on pirate websites

By Eriq Gardner

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. and the Walt Disney Co. have teamed up in a new legal effort to choke off the air supply of various websites that post and index links to pirated movies.

The two studios are suing Triton Media, alleged to have provided advertising consulting and referrals for nine websites identified as "one-stop-shops" for infringing works.

Warners and Disney claim that Triton committed contributory copyright infringement and induced copyright infringement via their advertising assistance. The lawsuit indicates that Hollywood may be on the verge of expanding its hit-list of targets in the ongoing war against piracy.

Indie distributor accused of 'Ungodly' behavior

By Eriq Gardner

First Look Studios is being accused of the indie film equivalent of bloody murder: releasing a genre picture with a confusing name, bad sound and poor marketing efforts.

The independent distributor was sued by a production company over "The Ungodly," starring Wes Bentley as an aspiring filmmaker who attempts to profit from a serial killer. When the film came out in 2007, it didn't exactly slay audiences.

But was the distributor to blame?

Circus Road Films thinks so. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, it claims that First Look "bollixed every aspect of the release" of its film.

Beer pong players sue over inclusion in 'World's Funniest Commercials' (video)

By Eriq Gardner

We have a hilarious complaint from two individuals who showed off their deft beer pong tricks in an ad for Carlsberg and who are now suing the brewer, TBS and the production company behind "Worlds' Funniest Commercials."

If you're not familiar with beer pong, it's a popular drinking game where players (mostly college kids) throw ping pong balls in hopes of landing them in a cup of beer. The plaintiffs, Scott Tipton and Christopher Kolb, seemingly play a lot of pong, a sport the complaint notes has "tremendous appeal to the demographic most coveted by TV programmers and advertisers."

Tipton was a law student at the time he filmed the commercial. He didn't want prospective employers seeing him execute complex tricks like richocheting the ping-pong ball four times off various uneven, angled surfaces and into the beer cup with back-spin (video after the jump). He also didn't want his conservative grandparents watching.

So the duo agreed to film the commercial, but producers allegedly agreed to restrict it to Danish airwaves. Oops.

Judge: Republican infringed Don Henley songs in campaign ads

By Eriq Gardner

A federal judge has tentatively ruled that California senatorial candidate Chuck DeVore violated rocker Don Henley's copyrights on two songs when he used them as the basis for campaign commercials posted on YouTube. In addition, the judge says that DeVore's infringement was likely willful.

This big decision, outlined in a 32-page tentative order, potentially holds major ramifications for politicians throughout the nation. (Judges are free to change their minds after issuing a tentative ruling, but it's rare; the two sides were in court today arguing over the tentative ruling). Over the past few months, several musicians have pressed copyright claims against politicians including John McCain, Charlie Crist, and Joe Walsh. 

The case against Chuck DeVore was the first to get to judgment. 

'Chipmunks' owners sue Fox, claim HALF of 'Squeakquel' millions

By Eriq Gardner and Matthew Belloni

EXCLUSIVE: The family that owns rights to Alvin and the Chipmunks has sued 20th Century Fox, claiming it is owed "half of all profits" from last year's megahit "The Squeakquel."

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Bagdasarian Prods. and writer Janice Karman claim that Fox took substantial portions of a screenplay prepared for the sequel by Karman, wife of the late creator's son, and has refused to account for "substantial copyrighted contributions" used "without authorization." The suit also alleges that Fox separately has breached an agreement over promotional tie-ins to the Chipmunk characters.

Given the success of the "Chipmunks" movie, damages could run in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

When does product placement become false advertising?

By Eriq Gardner

Product placement has become so omnipresent in films and TV that we hardly think twice when we see it. But what happens if the film or show misrepresents the product?

On the NYT's Freakonomics blog, Ian Ayres asks this question after seeing the Fox comedy "Date Night."

In one key scene, Steve Carell's character is desperate to look at photos on his flash drive and asks a cab driver if he has a laptop. The cabbie hands over a Kindle, which does the job.

One problem: Kindles don't read flash drives.

Patrick Dempsey fighting tequila hangover

By Eriq Gardner

"Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey fuels his auto racing hobby with tequila, but the ad agency that helped arrange a sponsorship for his team is claiming it was left high and dry.

E Image Agency is suing Patrick Dempsey Racing and tequila maker El Grado Spirits in Arizona district court alleging breach of contract.

The complaint details a very generous agreement.

Attention studio marketers: run that ad at your own risk

By Eriq Gardner

Two cases on the court docket show that it's not so easy for entertainment companies to promote shows and movies without running into legal trouble.

The first case involves a promotion run by A&E Television to showcase repeats of "The Sopranos." The network created a game called "Sopranos Photo Hunt" that tests whether fans can correctly identify the names of characters from the show. 

A&E is now being sued by AMI Entertainment Network, the developer of game apps for touchscreen devices. In its complaint, AMI claims to hold the trademark on "Photo Hunt" as it relates to games.

The second case concerns an individual, Victor Lozano, who claimed that 20th Century Fox had violated telemarketing laws by sending several text messages to his cell phone advertising the availability of new movies. 

Fox moved to dismiss the claim under the theory that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act limits the prohibition on automatic dialing systems to "calls" not "text messages." In a decision last week, a U.S. District Court judge in Illinois rejected that argument and also said the TCPA was not an abridgement of constitutional free speech. The case goes forward to trial.

Zorro sues over masked M&Ms character

By Eriq Gardner

Colorful button-shaped candies are both delicious and litigious.

Mars Company, maker of M&Ms, has for years been dressing up the bite-sized candies as colorful characters in ads. Promotions have included M&Ms dressed as characters from "Star Wars," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Transformers."

But Mars may have met its match with Zorro Prods., which claims to be the owner of trademarks associated with the character of Zorro, the masked Spanish avenger who has been the subject of feature films, television programs, novels and comic books.