Category: Lawsuits

Christian Bale questioned by UK police: reports
LONDON (Reuters) – Actor Christian Bale, star of the latest Batman movie blockbuster, “The Dark Knight,” has been released on bail by British police after being questioned on allegations of assault, media reported on Tuesday.
The reports could not be independently confirmed by his U.S. representatives, who did not immediately reply to messages. But when asked if Bale had been arrested and released on bail, a police spokeswoman said:
“A 34-year-old man has been bailed to return to a police station on a date in September.”
The wording is the usual tangential way that British police have of confirming news about well-known personalities.
The arrest follows an allegation of assault made by his mother and sister, the British tabloid Sun newspaper said.
It came the day after Bale attended the European premiere of “The Dark Knight,” the latest in the Batman film franchise co-starring the late Heath Ledger as the Joker.
Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose shortly after completing the filming of “Dark Knight,” which grossed more than $158 million in its first three days of release to rank as the biggest opening weekend for a movie in North America.
The studio behind the film, Warner Bros. Pictures, which is part of Time Warner Inc., was not immediately available for comment.
Bale was on the red carpet with co-stars Michael Caine and Maggie Gyllenhaal in central London’s Leicester Square on Monday night.
A martial-arts enthusiast and environmental activist, Bale has also appeared in “Batman Begins,” “American Psycho” and “Empire of the Sun.”

Barenaked Lady admitted drug use
TORONTO – Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page, known for his quirky lyrics, environmental activism and clean-cut image, admitted to New York police that he was snorting cocaine prior to his arrest last week, court documents allege.
The documents, filed with the Fayetteville Village Court in New York, contain details from police as well as a statement from a woman arrested at the same time as the 38-year-old Toronto resident.
A felony complaint against the singer states he was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance early Friday morning after police stumbled upon a car parked across a driveway with its driver-side door open.
After tracking the license plate of the vehicle, police entered an apartment where they found Page and 25-year-old Stephanie Ford in the kitchen.
In a statement to police filed with the court, Ford said the two had just finished snorting what she believed to be cocaine using a rolled-up Canadian bill.
She said Page had stored several capsules containing a white powdery substance in a bottle labelled Calcium.
A separate court document states that police questioned Page about the substance he was snorting after it tested positive for cocaine.
“Yeah, it’s cocaine,” the documents quote Page as saying.
Police allege Page had about a third of an ounce of the drug on him at the time of his arrest. He was taken into police custody, but was later released after posting $10,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in a New York court on August 26. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The court documents say Ford, who was also charged with drug possession, told police the evening’s events began when Page got into a fight with his girlfriend, Christine Benedicto, at a local bar.
In her statement to police, Ford said Page believed Benedicto was flirting with another man.
Ford told police the two argued, with Page leaving the bar and planning to drive back to Canada after he had been drinking. Ford told police she forcibly restrained him from getting behind the wheel by following him back to the apartment she shares with Benedicto and sitting on him.
Benedicto later arrived at the apartment, confiscated Page’s car keys, and drove off, according to Ford’s statement. She was later arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.
The criminal charge is a notable blemish on what has otherwise been a squeaky-clean run for the bespectacled Page and bandmates Ed Robertson, Tyler Stewart, Jim Creeggan and Kevin Hearn.
Since forming nearly 20 years ago in Toronto’s east end, they’ve crafted a sizable catalogue of catchy, humour-filled hits including “If I Had a $1,000,000,” “Yoko Ono,” “One Week” and “It’s All Been Done” while garnering several Juno wins and two Grammy nominations.
The band recently released a children’s album called “Snacktime.” Their next public appearance is slated for a benefit concert hosted by Disney and Playskool on behalf of four children’s charities.
In a brief message posted on its website, the band thanked fans for their support and said “the validity of the charges against Steven will be strongly contested.”
“While this is happening, it’s business as usual for Barenaked Ladies,” states the message at www.bnlmusic.com.
“We will continue to perform and look forward to heading into the studio later this year to record a new album. We want to thank our loyal fans for their continued support during this difficult time.”

Anne Hathaway’s ex-boyfriend arrested on fraud charges
NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Italian businessman who had been the long-time boyfriend of actress Anne Hathaway was arrested on Tuesday on charges of operating a fraudulent real estate scheme that he claimed was linked to the Vatican, U.S. authorities said.
Raffaello Follieri, 29, was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering in a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. He was expected to appear in court later in the day.
Follieri is accused of operating a scheme in which he led investors to believe that he had close connections with the Vatican that enabled him to buy the Catholic Church’s unwanted U.S. real estate properties at a discount, according to federal prosecutors and the FBI.
Follieri and others used the investors’ money for expensive clothes and restaurant meals, a $37,000-a-month Manhattan apartment, dog-walking services and other personal expenditures including medical expenses for his girlfriend at the time, according to the complaint. Authorities did not identify the girlfriend.
For four years, Follieri had dated Hathaway, who starred in “Get Smart,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and other movies. Last week, Britain’s The Daily Mail reported that the two had split.
The complaint said Follieri, of Foggia, Italy, had made false representations that included claims that the Vatican formally appointed him to manage its financial affairs and that he met with the Pope when he visited Rome.
WITNESSES
In reality, according to the complaint, Follieri did not have any connections that allowed him to buy Church real estate at below-market rates.
The complaint cites witnesses who said Follieri kept various ceremonial robes at his office in New York, including those of senior clergymen. In one instance, according to the complaint, Follieri asked a monsignor who was traveling with him to change out of his robes “and put on the robe of a more senior clergyman in order to create the false impression that Follieri had close ties to the Vatican.”
When asked for comment, Follieri’s lawyer, Flora Edwards, said: “It’s a little premature at this time. I am hopeful we will be able to resolve everything.”
The complaint contends Follieri got millions of dollars in investment money from an unspecified private equity firm based on his misrepresentations. The fraudulent scheme lasted from June 2005 through June 2007, according to the complaint.
According to published reports, California supermarket mogul Ron Burkle has previously sued Follieri in Delaware of misusing money from a joint real estate venture involving buying and reselling properties owned by the Catholic Church.
In the complaint, Follieri was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, and five counts of money laundering.
If convicted, he could face as much as five years in prison for conspiracy, 20 years for wire fraud and 20 years in prison for money laundering, plus fines.

Seinfeld a comedian, not an actor
NEW YORK – Jerry Seinfeld claims a cookbook author is cooking up some fancy semantics by calling him an actor rather than a comedian to minimize the humour in statements she says defamed her.
Lawyers for Seinfeld say Missy Chase Lapine’s lawyers resorted to the switch in words to describe Seinfeld when several weeks ago they filed a rewritten version of her lawsuit against him and his wife in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
“Jerry Seinfeld is an enormously wealthy and well-known actor,” Lapine’s revised lawsuit said. The original had called him a comedian.
Lapine, the author of “The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals,” accused Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica Seinfeld, of plagiarizing her cookbook when in October she published her own, entitled: “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.”
During an appearance on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman,” Jerry Seinfeld said Lapine was accusing his wife of “vegetable plagiarism” and compared her to the three-name killers of John Lennon and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“If you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins,” Seinfeld said. “Mark David Chapman. And you know, James Earl Ray. So that’s my concern.”
His lawyers said in court papers filed late Tuesday: “No reasonable viewer could have thought that Seinfeld really meant that Lapine … might become an ‘assassin’ simply because she has three names.”
Lapine’s lawyers have said Seinfeld, best known for the popular television comedy series “Seinfeld,” used the Letterman appearance to launch a “malicious, premeditated and knowingly false and defamatory attack” on her.
“The issues of law will be decided by the court, and we are confident of the outcome,” Lapine lawyer Howard B. Miller said Wednesday.
Seinfeld’s lawyers asked a judge to toss out the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.
In separate court papers, Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children’s meals when “countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea,” including a 1971 book. She called the lawsuit “opportunistic.”

Charity run by Hathaway’s boyfriend investigated
ALBANY, N.Y. – The state is investigating the charitable foundation of Anne Hathaway’s boyfriend, a spokesman for the attorney general said Monday.
Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri, 29, who dates the “Devil Wears Prada” star, heads the Follieri Foundation, a charity whose work includes vaccinating children in Third World countries.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is heading the probe, Cuomo spokesman Matt Glazer said. He said he could not comment further on the ongoing investigation.
The Foundation has not filed IRS tax disclosure forms required from charities, according to a review of records by the Associated Press.
The New York Post, which first reported the investigation, said Hathaway was previously on the foundation’s board of directors, but it was unclear when or for how long.
“There is an investigation going on that does not involve Anne,” said Stephen Huvane, Hathaway’s publicist, in an e-mail. “She is no longer a board member of the Follieri Foundation. Other than that we will not be commenting.”
The number for a Follieri at his Manhattan apartment was disconnected.

Snipes gets 3 years, apologizes for `costly mistakes’
OCALA, Fla. – After haggling with revenue agents, criminal investigators and eventually U.S. prosecutors for almost a decade, Wesley Snipes finally caught them by surprise.
Hours before he was to be sentenced Thursday for failing to file income taxes he insisted he never had to pay, the action star cut the federal government three checks for $5 million, delivered in court.
So taken aback were prosecutors that they first declined the cash. But by the end of the day, the government took the money and more ó a maximum three-year sentence for its highest-profile criminal tax target in decades.
“The sentencing court sends the right message to the American taxpayer ó you’ve got to pay your taxes,” U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill told reporters outside the usually quiet central Florida courthouse. “Rich, poor, it doesn’t matter. We all pay our taxes.”
Though Snipes was convicted of three counts of willfully failing to file returns, his trial was held by some as proof of victory for the tax protest movement. Snipes was acquitted of five other charges, including felony tax fraud and conspiracy, that would’ve exposed him to 13 more years in prison.
Criminal tax prosecutions are relatively rare ó usually the cases are handled in civil court, where the government has a lower burden of proof.
Snipes’ attorneys argued the sentence was too stiff for a first-time offender convicted of three misdemeanors, and recommended he be given home detention and ordered to make public service announcements.
But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws.
“In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors,” Hodges said.
The action star of the “Blade” trilogy, “White Men Can’t Jump,” “Jungle Fever” and other films hasn’t filed a tax return since 1998, the government alleged. Snipes and the IRS still must determine how much he owes, plus interest and penalties. The government alleged Snipes made at least $13.8 million for the three years in question, owing at least $2.7 million in back taxes on them alone.
Snipes read aloud from a prepared apology, calling his actions “costly mistakes” but never mentioning the word “taxes.” He said he was the victim of crooked advisers, a liability of wealth and celebrity that attract “wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat.”
“I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance,” Snipes said.
His lawyers said he was no threat to society, and offered three dozen letters from family members, friends and even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington attesting to his compassion, intelligence and value as a mentor. They called four character witnesses Thursday, including television’s Judge Joe Brown, who incited applause from the gallery by suggesting Snipes was no different than “mega-corporate entities” that legally avoid taxes.
Hodges twice halted the proceedings to quiet the crowd, threatening to clear everyone out if they made another outburst.
Snipes’ co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on both felony counts on which the actor was acquittal. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years, while Rosile received 4 1/2 years. Both will serve three years of supervised release.
Snipes and Rosile remain free and will be notified when they are to surrender to authorities. Defense attorney Carmen Hernandez signaled in court that Snipes would pursue an appeal.
Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries, that purported to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Snipes was a dues-paying member of the organization, and Rosile, a de-licensed accountant, prepared Snipes’ paperwork.
The actor maintained in a yearslong battle with the IRS he did not have to pay taxes, using fringe arguments common to “tax protesters” who say the government has no legal right to collect. After joining Kahn’s group, the government said, Snipes instructed his employees to stop paying their own taxes and sought $11 million in 1996 and 1997 taxes he legally paid.
Defense attorneys Hernandez and Daniel Meachum said Snipes was unfairly targeted because he’s famous. Meachum called prosecutors “big game hunters,” selectively prosecuting the actor while Kahn’s some 4,000 other clients remained free.
Hodges was not swayed.
“One of the main purposes which drives selective prosecution in tax cases is deterrence,” the judge said, while denying it had anything to do with his sentence. “In some instances, that means those of celebrity stand greater risk of prosecution. But there’s nothing unusual about it, nor is there anything unlawful about it. It’s the way the system works.”

‘Potter’ fan weeps in court
NEW YORK – A Harry Potter fan who wants to publish an encyclopedic guide to the wildly popular fantasy novels broke down and cried on the witness stand Tuesday as he faced off in federal court against his idol J.K. Rowling.
The British author sued Steven Vander Ark’s publisher RDR Books last year, claiming that their “Harry Potter Lexicon” – based on Vander Ark’s fan website – infringed on her copyright.
Vander Ark wiped away tears when he was asked to reflect on what the case has done to his relationship with the community of Harry Potter fans. The former middle school librarian, who fell in love with the books in the late 1990s and has devoted years to studying them and indexing their content online, could barely speak.
“It’s been . . . it’s been,” he stammered, choking on his words. “It’s been difficult because there has been a lot of criticism, obviously, and that was never the intention. . . . This has been an important part of my life for the last nine years or so.”
Vander Ark testified on the second day of a trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, pitting his publishing company, RDR Books, against Rowling and Warner Bros., the maker of the Harry Potter films and owner of all the intellectual property related to the Potter books and movies.
Rowling and the media company are trying to prevent publication of the “Harry Potter Lexicon,” which Vander Ark and Michigan-based RDR had sought to publish last fall. Its release was delayed pending the outcome of the suit; Rowling has argued that the book borrows too heavily from her novels.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Vander Ark acknowledged that he, too, had substantial concerns all along about whether publishing an encyclopedia based on Rowling’s Potter universe would constitute copyright infringement. He said he was talked into doing it by the publishing company.
Rowling, testified Monday that the Harry Potter characters she created are as dear as her children, too precious to allow an inferior Potter encyclopedia to be published without letting the world know the ordeal is draining her of her will to write.
“I believe that it is sloppy, lazy and that it takes my work wholesale, verbatim. This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work,” she said of Vander Ark’s effort.
She also said she recently started work on her own encyclopedia but does not expect to complete it for two to three years. If Vander Ark’s lexicon is published, “I’m not at all convinced that I would have the will or the heart to continue with my encyclopedia,” she said.
The case caused her to stop working on a new novel, as well, she told the packed courtroom.
“It’s really decimated my creative work over the last month,” she said. “Again, it’s very hard to describe to someone who’s not engaged in creative writing, but you lose the threads, you worry if you will be able to pick them up again in exactly the same way.”
In his opening statement, RDR lawyer Anthony Falzone defended the lexicon as a reference guide, calling it a legitimate effort “to organize and discuss the complicated and very elaborate world of Harry Potter.” The small publisher is not contesting that the lexicon infringes upon Rowling’s copyright but argues that it is a fair use allowable by law for reference books.
The nonjury trial will be decided by U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson Jr., who must determine whether the use of the material is legal because Vander Ark added his own interpretation, creativity and analysis. The testimony and arguments could last most of the week.
The trial comes eight months after the publication of Rowling’s final book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” The seven books have been published in 64 languages, sold more than 400 million copies and produced a film franchise that has pulled in US$4.5 billion at the worldwide box office.

Battle over ‘Star Wars’ costumes
LONDON – It’s a storm in a Stormtrooper’s helmet.
Lawyers for George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Ltd. and a British prop designer faced off in London’s High Court on Tuesday over rights to the moulded white Stormtrooper uniforms from the “Star Wars” films.
Standing alongside the bewigged, black-robed lawyers in court was the object of their dispute – a six-foot tall, helmeted warrior of the evil Galactic Empire. Lucasfilm lawyer Michael Bloch called the menacing figure “one of the most iconic images in modern culture.”
Lucasfilm claims violation of copyright and trademarks by prop designer Andrew Ainsworth, who sculpted the Stormtrooper helmets for the first “Star Wars” movie in 1977. London-based Ainsworth sells replicas of the helmets and armour, which he says are made from the original moulds, on his Web site.
Lucasfilm won a US$20-million judgment against Ainsworth in a California court in 2006, and is seeking to have it enforced in Britain.
Ainsworth is countersuing, claiming the copyright rests with him and seeking a share of merchandising revenue from the six “Star Wars” films, which his lawyers estimate at $24 billion.
Lucasfilm and its lawyers claim the design of the Stormtroopers was created by Lucas and his artistic team, and was already in place by the time Ainsworth was hired to create the helmets.
“The look to be created had been worked on by a large team of people for perhaps more than a year,” Bloch said at the start of the 10-day hearing.
Any extra security the Stormtroopers might provide wasn’t sitting well with Judge Anthony Mann, who cast a glance at the silent props standing beside him.
“Are they going to stay there for the entire trial?” he asked.

Smashing Pumpkins sue Virgin Records
LOS ANGELES – The Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records, saying the record label has illegally used their name and music in promotional deals that hurt the band’s credibility with fans.
In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, the rockers said they have “worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public,” and that Virgin’s use of the band in a “Pepsi Stuff” promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for “artistic integrity.”
Virgin released the Smashing Pumpkins’ music for more than 17 years, but the only active agreement between the two parties, the lawsuit claims, is a deal granting Virgin permission to sell digital downloads of the band’s songs. The agreement does not give Virgin the right to use the band in promotional campaigns to sell outside products, the lawsuit said.
The band members said they would “never grant such authority to Virgin, or any other entity.”
An after-hours call to Virgin Records wasn’t immediately returned.
The lawsuit demands that Virgin pay with the profits earned in the promotion and asks for an injunction against using the Pumpkins’ name or music in the future.

Gibson sues over “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band”
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gibson Guitar said on Friday that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Viacom Inc’s MTV networks, Harmonix and Electronic Arts relating to the wildly popular “Rock Band” video game and Harmonix’s previously developed game, “Guitar Hero.”
The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Tennessee, relates to the same patent involved in another suit Gibson filed earlier against various retailers of “Guitar Hero,” a competitor to “Rock Band,” the Tennessee-based guitar maker said in a statement.
The “Guitar Hero” series, published by Activision), has sold more than 14 million units in North America and raked in more than $1 billion since its 2005 debut, while “Rock Band” is a newer rival.
Gibson said the games, in which players use a guitar-shaped controller in time with notes on a television screen, violate a 1999 patent for technology to simulate a musical performance.
Harmonix developed the first “Guitar Hero” game and was later bought by MTV. Electronic Arts publishes “Rock Band” and another company, Activision Inc, as well as several retailers, either develop, distribute or sell one or several of the games in the “Guitar Hero” series.
“This lawsuit is completely without merit and we intend to defend it vigorously,” Harmonix said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Electronic Arts could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this month, Activision filed a preemptive suit against Gibson, which had complained that the games infringe upon one of its patents.
Activision filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for Central California to declare Gibson’s patent invalid and to bar it from seeking damages.
Gibson, whose electric guitars are used by legendary blues and rock artists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Slash, has been a high-profile partner in the “Guitar Hero” games.
Activision licensed the rights to model its video controllers on Gibson guitar models and to use their likenesses in the game.
Activision has said that by waiting three years to raise its claim, Gibson had granted an implied license for any technology.