Category: Lawsuits

Mistrial in Phil Spector murder trial
LOS ANGELES – Music producer Phil Spector’s murder trial ended in a mistrial Wednesday because of a deadlocked jury. Each juror told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler they could not reach a verdict.
The mistrial came on the 12th day of deliberations on whether Spector murdered actress Lana Clarkson more than 4 1/2 years ago.
Spector, 67, is charged with second-degree murder. Clarkson, 40, died when a gun went off in her mouth as she sat in a chair in the foyer of Spector’s Alhambra mansion about 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003. She had met Spector just a few hours earlier at her job as a nightclub hostess and went home with him for a drink after work.

O.J. faces felony charges in robbery
LAS VEGAS – O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great’s sports memorabilia, authorities said.
Simpson was arrested shortly after 11 a.m., Capt. James Dillon said.
The charges against Simpson will include robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a firearm, all felonies, Dillon said. More charges could be brought against him, he said.
Simpson was being held at Las Vegas police offices pending the arrival of his lawyer, who was expected later Sunday, Dillon said.
“He was very cooperative, there were no issues,” Dillon said.
At least one other person has been arrested and police said Sunday that as many as six people could be arrested in connection with the alleged armed robbery that occurred in a room inside the Palace Station casino-hotel on Thursday.
Simpson, 60, has said he and other people with him were retrieving items that belonged to him. Simpson has said there were no guns involved and that he went to the room at the casino only to get stolen mementos that included his Hall of Fame certificate and a picture of the running back with J. Edgar Hoover.
Simpson told The Associated Press on Saturday that he did not call the police to help reclaim the items because he has found the police unresponsive to him ever since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were killed in 1994.
“The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me,” he said, noting that whenever he has called the police “It just becomes a story about O.J.”
The Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor lives near Miami and has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife and Goldman were killed in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of murder charges, but a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Police said two firearms and other evidence were seized at a private residence early Sunday.
Walter Alexander, 46, of Arizona, was arrested Saturday night on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon.
He was released without bail on Saturday night, Dillon said.
Besides the two firearms, police said they seized other evidence during early morning searches of two residences, Lt. Clint Nichols said.
“It was evidence of a crime that was committed,” Nichols said. “And I believe we recovered some clothing that the individual was wearing in the commission of the robbery.”
Simpson said auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors were selling some of his items. Riccio set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson’s items.
Simpson said he was accompanied by several men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and they took the collectibles.
Alfred Beardsley, one of the sports memorabilia collectors involved in the alleged robbery, has said he wants the case dropped and that he’s “on O.J.’s side.”

Bill Murray Arrested for Drunk Driving in a Golf Cart
Hollywood star Bill Murray has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in a golf cart in the Swedish capital Stockholm.
The actor was stopped by police in the early hours of Sunday and alcohol was smelled on his breath, according Stockholm police detective inspector Christer Holmlund.
Holmlund says, “He refused to blow in the (breath test) instrument, citing American legislation. So we applied the old method – a blood test. It will take 14 days before the results are in.”
Murray – who is in the city attending a golf tournament – signed a document admitting driving under the influence and permitted a police officer to enter a guilty plea on his behalf if the case goes to court.
The 56-year-old will only be charged if his blood alcohol level is higher than the legal limit. If it is excessively high he could face a prison sentence – but a fine is more likely.
Holmlund adds, “There were no obvious signs, like when someone is really tipsy.” The officer claims mystery surrounds the golf cart and who owns it – although Murray isn’t facing theft charges:
“It was a golf cart. How it ended up in this predicament I don’t know. I have done this since 1968 and I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

Honeymoon over for “Greek Wedding” creative team
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Alleging big, fat accounting problems, the creative team behind “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is suing the independent production company behind the 2002 low-budget comedy phenomenon.
Plaintiffs in the suit, filed late Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, include business entities controlled by Nia Vardalos, who wrote the screenplay and starred in the film, and those of producers Tom Hanks, Rita Hanks and Gary Goetzman.
Collectively, the creative team has shared in profits rising into the tens of millions, but it claims that a lack of transparency in accounting by film co-financier Gold Circle Films has left the plaintiffs uncertain of how much they are owed. Gold Circle is backed by billionaire Gateway Inc. co-founder Norm Waitt Jr.
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a full accounting of film profits under court supervision. In addition to Gold Circle, the suit names as defendants related entities Big Wedding Prods. and Vortex Pictures.
“The accounting statements rendered by defendants have been vague and inadequate in failing to provide information consistent with industry standards,” alleges the suit.
The plaintiffs claim Gold Circle reports gross receipts of the film — produced on a budget of $5 million — total $287 million, even though media reports indicate a tally closer to $400 million. The defendants have failed to provide an audit requested to clarify the matter, the plaintiffs said.
Vardalos’ contract stipulates an 8% participation in adjusted gross profits, while the other three plaintiffs are owed one-third each of the net balance remaining after backend disbursements, according to the suit.
IFC, the domestic distributor of “Greek Wedding,” was a nonequity contractor on the film and is not a party to the suit.
Scott Niemeyer, a principal at Gold Circle, issued a company statement denying all claims in the lawsuit, which he labeled as “frivolous.”
“The lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs is completely without merit,” Gold Circle said. “Gold Circle has fully complied with its contractual obligations and has already paid plaintiffs a combined total of over $44 million in profits on ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ Gold Circle has never thwarted the producers’ audit rights.
“Since receiving plaintiffs’ initial audit request over two years ago in early 2005, Gold Circle has invited plaintiffs’ auditors to schedule and conduct their audit,” the statement added. “However, for over two years the plaintiffs and their auditors have done nothing to advance an audit. Plaintiffs’ representatives have filed this frivolous lawsuit as a desperate attempt to cover up their failure to initiate potential audit claims that have since been time-barred under the express terms of the applicable contracts.”

Media mogul Black guilty of fraud
CHICAGO – Former media mogul Conrad Black was convicted Friday of swindling the far-flung Hollinger International newspaper empire he once ran out of millions of dollars, becoming the latest in a wave of disgraced corporate executives to face prison time for financial fraud.
Black, 62, who once renounced his Canadian citizenship to become a member of the British House of Lords, was found guilty by a federal jury of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice for spiriting documents out of his Toronto office in defiance of a court order.
Black was acquitted of nine other counts ranging from tax fraud to the most serious charge ó racketeering. He was also acquitted of fleecing Hollinger shareholders through such perks as taking the corporate jet on a two-week vacation to the island of Bora Bora.
The three-month trial drew international media attention, heightened by the silver-haired British lord’s posh lifestyle and sometimes haughty comments. When shareholders grumbled about the cost of the Bora Bora trip, he wrote a memo saying: “I’m not prepared to re-enact the French revolutionary renunciation of the rights of the nobility.”
Three other former Hollinger executives, John Boultbee, 65, of Victoria, British Columbia, Peter Y. Atkinson, 60, of Oakville, Ontario, and Mark Kipnis, 59, of Northbrook, Ill., were also convicted of fraud charges.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to have Black jailed immediately, saying he could face approximately 15 years to nearly 20 years in federal prison for the conviction. But defense attorneys said the actual sentence was likely to be much less.
In contrast to the $84 million in fraud prosecutors blamed on Black when he was indicted two years ago, the jurors found him guilty of a fraction of that ó defense attorneys put the amount at $3.5 million.
Still, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the government was “gratified” by the verdict.
“We think the verdict vindicates the serious public interest in making sure that when insiders in a corporation deal with money entrusted to them by the shareholders, that they not engage in self-dealing, that they not break the law to benefit themselves instead of the shareholders,” Fitzgerald said.
St. Eve set a Nov. 30 sentencing date, confiscated Black’s passport and ordered him to remain in the Chicago area while she considers the government’s request that she revoke his $21 million bond, partly secured by a seaside estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A hearing on the bond issue is scheduled for Thursday.
Black defense attorney Edward M. Genson argued that Black had “wanted his day in court and now wants his day on appeal” and would not run away.
“He has had his day in court,” countered prosecutor Eric H. Sussman, “and now the question is whether he will have his day of sentencing.”
Black was stony faced as he handed over the passport. When St. Eve asked if he would appear for sentencing, he said: “Absolutely.”
Black avoided reporters’ questions as he left the courthouse Friday afternoon. Edward Greenspan, Black’s Canadian defense attorney, promised an appeal on “viable legal issues.”
“We came here to face 13 counts and an indictment. Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges. They have been dismissed,” Greenspan said, reading from a statement and refusing to answer questions.
“We vehemently disagree with the government’s position on sentencing,” he said, but did not offer what he believes is a proper sentencing range.
Hollinger International, based in Chicago, was at one time one of the world’s largest publisher of community newspapers as well as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London and Israel’s Jerusalem Post.
At the core of the charges against Black was a strategy he arrived at starting in 1998 to sell off the bulk of the small community papers, which were published in smaller cities across the United States and Canada.
Black and other Hollinger executives received millions of dollars in payments from the companies that bought the community papers in return for promises that they would not return to compete with the new owners.
Prosecutors said the executives pocketed the money, which they said belonged to shareholders, without telling Hollinger’s board of directors.
In the end, jurors convicted Black in connection with two sets of noncompete payments.
One involved $2.6 million in such payments he received in exchange for a noncompete pledge made to the American Publishing Co. The company was a Hollinger subsidiary and thus Black and executives who also got such payments were effectively getting money not to compete with themselves.
The other were “supplemental payments” made in April 2001 after Hollinger executives realized there had been no non-competition money in sales of community newspapers to Horizon Publications Inc. in March 1999 and to Forum Communications Inc. in September 2000.
Realizing that no such non-competition money for them had been included in the deals, the executives ordered up “supplemental payments.” Black’s share of that money came to $285,000.
The American Publishing money and supplemental payments were covered in three counts of the indictment. The fourth count Black was convicted of involved the removal of documents from his Toronto offices after a court had ordered them frozen unless otherwise permitted by a court monitor.
The government’s star witness at the trial was F. David Radler, Black’s partner in building the Hollinger empire over three decades. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and agreed to testify in exchange for a lenient 29-month sentence and a $250,000 fine.
Black had said that he was busy with newspaper interests in Britain and eastern Canada and left most of the sales of community newspapers and noncompete arrangements to Radler. But Radler said that Black was well aware of how and why the money was being paid.
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Associated Press Writers Don Babwin, Carla K. Johnson, Dave Carpenter and Dan Strumpf in Chicago contributed to this report.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to have Black jailed immediately, saying he could face approximately 15 years to nearly 20 years in federal prison for the conviction. But defense attorneys said the actual sentence was likely to be much less.
In contrast to the $84 million in fraud prosecutors blamed on Black when he was indicted two years ago, the jurors found him guilty of a fraction of that ó defense attorneys put the amount at $3.5 million.
Still, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the government was “gratified” by the verdict.
“We think the verdict vindicates the serious public interest in making sure that when insiders in a corporation deal with money entrusted to them by the shareholders, that they not engage in self-dealing, that they not break the law to benefit themselves instead of the shareholders,” Fitzgerald said.
St. Eve set a Nov. 30 sentencing date, confiscated Black’s passport and ordered him to remain in the Chicago area while she considers the government’s request that she revoke his $21 million bond, partly secured by a seaside estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A hearing on the bond issue is scheduled for Thursday.
Black defense attorney Edward M. Genson argued that Black had “wanted his day in court and now wants his day on appeal” and would not run away.
“He has had his day in court,” countered prosecutor Eric H. Sussman, “and now the question is whether he will have his day of sentencing.”
Black was stony faced as he handed over the passport. When St. Eve asked if he would appear for sentencing, he said: “Absolutely.”
Black avoided reporters’ questions as he left the courthouse Friday afternoon. Edward Greenspan, Black’s Canadian defense attorney, promised an appeal on “viable legal issues.”
“We came here to face 13 counts and an indictment. Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges. They have been dismissed,” Greenspan said, reading from a statement and refusing to answer questions.
“We vehemently disagree with the government’s position on sentencing,” he said, but did not offer what he believes is a proper sentencing range.
Hollinger International, based in Chicago, was at one time one of the world’s largest publisher of community newspapers as well as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London and Israel’s Jerusalem Post.
At the core of the charges against Black was a strategy he arrived at starting in 1998 to sell off the bulk of the small community papers, which were published in smaller cities across the United States and Canada.
Black and other Hollinger executives received millions of dollars in payments from the companies that bought the community papers in return for promises that they would not return to compete with the new owners.
Prosecutors said the executives pocketed the money, which they said belonged to shareholders, without telling Hollinger’s board of directors.
In the end, jurors convicted Black in connection with two sets of noncompete payments.
One involved $2.6 million in such payments he received in exchange for a noncompete pledge made to the American Publishing Co. The company was a Hollinger subsidiary and thus Black and executives who also got such payments were effectively getting money not to compete with themselves.
The other were “supplemental payments” made in April 2001 after Hollinger executives realized there had been no non-competition money in sales of community newspapers to Horizon Publications Inc. in March 1999 and to Forum Communications Inc. in September 2000.
Realizing that no such non-competition money for them had been included in the deals, the executives ordered up “supplemental payments.” Black’s share of that money came to $285,000.
The American Publishing money and supplemental payments were covered in three counts of the indictment. The fourth count Black was convicted of involved the removal of documents from his Toronto offices after a court had ordered them frozen unless otherwise permitted by a court monitor.
The government’s star witness at the trial was F. David Radler, Black’s partner in building the Hollinger empire over three decades. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and agreed to testify in exchange for a lenient 29-month sentence and a $250,000 fine.
Black had said that he was busy with newspaper interests in Britain and eastern Canada and left most of the sales of community newspapers and noncompete arrangements to Radler. But Radler said that Black was well aware of how and why the money was being paid.

Avril sued over ‘Girlfriend’
TORONTO (CP) – Canadian faux-punk princess Avril Lavigne, repeatedly dogged by accusations she doesn’t write her own songs, is now being dragged into a legal battle to prove she penned her chart-topping hit “Girlfriend.”
A pair of U.S. songwriters allege her contagious single sounds suspiciously like a song called “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” released by the Rubinoos in 1979.
The American song features the upbeat chorus: “Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your boyfriend,” much like Lavigne’s boppy refrain, which declares: “Hey, hey, you, you, I don’t like your girlfriend.”
San Francisco lawyer Nicholas Carlin said Wednesday that the similarities are clear, and accused Lavigne of copying substantial chunks of the song from the one crafted by his client, Rubinoos founder and songwriter Tommy Dunbar.
“She’s made a lot of money off of my client’s song,” Carlin said by phone from northern California, where the claim was filed.
“The entire song is not the same, they have different bridges, but the heart and soul of her song is directly taken from our client’s song.”
Lavigne’s manager, Terry McBride, scoffed at the charges, calling the suit “baseless” and little more than a “case of legal blackmail.”
“Avril’s a great songwriter and she’s proving it over and over and over again,” McBride said from Vancouver, where he runs Nettwerk Music Group.
“Avril’s very, very sensible. She knows music well. If the chords had been similar, the melodies had been similar, lyrics had been similar … she would have gone, ‘OK, I can see their point.’ But nothing’s similar.”
McBride said the suit was filed July 2 but that he received a draft of the claim roughly six weeks ago.
It names as the plaintiffs songwriters Dunbar and James Gangwer and names Lavigne, Avril Lavigne Publishing, and the 22-year-old’s songwriting partner Dr. Luke among the defendants.
While Carlin admitted that the lyrics and melodies differ, he insisted that the main hook of Dunbar’s song was ripped off.
“You don’t have to have the entire song to be similar to the original song for it to be an infringement. It just requires a certain, substantial similarity, meaning an important part of the song,” he explained.
He went on to recite the lyrics to Lavigne’s upbeat track, noting they morph from “I don’t like your girlfriend” to “I want to be your girlfriend.”
McBride said he hired a musicologist to study both tracks and the expert found no basis for the allegations.
“This one came back so solidly on our side it’s just ridiculous,” he said.
Still, McBride admitted he’s considering settling the suit out of court if the costs of defending the case prove too high.
He noted that a similar claim against his client Sarah McLachlan about 10 years ago cost roughly $500,000 to defeat in court. When Nettwerk tried to recoup the costs from the plaintiffs, they declared bankruptcy, he said.
Veteran entertainment lawyer Paul Sanderson said copyright suits are common in the music business and are often settled out of court.
“There used to be a saying in the industry: ‘Where there’s a hit, there’s a writ,’ ” said Sanderson, a Toronto lawyer who used to represent Lavigne and whose current clients include Chantal Kreviazuk and Ron Sexsmith.
“It really is about the money. If someone thinks that they have a possibility of making some money out of the claim and there’s money in the pipeline that’s been earned by a song … there’s money there to argue about.”
McBride said his current legal battle is “an unfortunate part of this business.”
“We will try and settle for costs that will be less than defending,” he said. “Emotionally, it sucks. But at the end of the day you have to take that out of it.”
The legal blow is just the latest in a series of jabs that question Lavigne’s songwriting claims.
Last month, Kreviazuk suggested to Performing Songwriter magazine that Lavigne took credit for a song Kreviazuk wrote called “Contagious.”
Kreviazuk told the publication she gave a song called “Contagious” to Lavigne two years ago and was surprised to see a track with the same name on Lavigne’s current disc with a credit to Lavigne and songwriter Evan Taubenfeld.
McBride said Kreviazuk has never even heard the Lavigne track and has since retracted her statement.
“I know, personally, she regrets saying what she said,” said McBride, adding the songs are nothing alike. “The interviewer obviously got Chantal on a bad day.”
Lavigne, who grew up in Napanee, Ont., has also had to deflect accusations from the Matrix, the production team behind hits “Sk8er Boi” and “I’m With You.”
Songwriter Lauren Christie told Rolling Stone that Lavigne did little but “change a word here or there,” but Lavigne has insisted the pair crafted the melodies and lyrics together.
McBride said the barrage of criticism facing Lavigne is just part of life at the top of the charts.
“Everyone comes after the stars. If Avril was not successful, they wouldn’t really care,” he said.

15 actors sue for LOTR profits
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Fifteen actors from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy are suing New Line Cinema for breach of contract, claiming they’re still owed a percentage of an estimated US$100 million in profits from the sales of movie merchandise, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The New Zealand actors were supposed to split five per cent of the revenue after expenses from sales of caps, video games, mugs and other merchandise, said the lawsuit filed May 30 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. But the suit contends New Line breached the contract by taking distribution and “gross participation” fees to which it wasn’t entitled
The fees weren’t in the contract and they ate up all the profits owed to the actors, said their lawyer, Henry Gradstein of Los Angeles.
With those fees, “the expenses will always be approximately 104 per cent. It’s Hollywood accounting,” Gradstein said.
The merchandise has created $100 million in net profits, including $22 million alone for items associated with Paul Norell, who played the “King of the Dead,” the lawyer estimated.
New Line does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman Robert Pini said Wednesday.
It’s not the first suit against New Line stemming from the hugely successful movie series.
Director Peter Jackson’s production company sued the distributor two years ago, claiming it was shortchanged on profits, including revenue from DVD sales, for 2001’s “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
Also, in 2005 New Line reached an out-of-court settlement with Hollywood producer Saul Zaentz, who claimed he was owed an additional $20 million in royalties from the “Lord of the Rings” films. Terms were not disclosed.

Canadian journalist says “Knocked Up” a knock-off
TORONTO (Reuters) – A Canadian journalist is suing the director and the studio of the new hit comedy “Knocked Up,” arguing that she’s the rightful parent of the tale behind the movie.
In a suit filed against writer-director Judd Apatow, and against Universal Studios, Calgary-based Rebecca Eckler says there are too many similarities between the movie and her book about her accidental pregnancy to be a coincidence.
“I don’t doubt, purely based on the screenplay, that he (Apatow) had a copy in his office somehow of the book,” Eckler told Reuters.
“A lot of people, I’m sure, will say, ‘Well, getting drunk and knocked up, it could happen to everybody.’ Well, the fact is, it doesn’t happen to everybody, and no one had written about it before I did. And he (Apatow) didn’t sell the screenplay until after I did.”
Eckler’s book, “Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-Be,” was published in the United States in 2005, and Eckler said she wants credit and compensation.
The story of an up-and-coming reporter who gets drunk and pregnant is the premise behind both the film and Eckler’s book. She said other similarities include the fact that both fathers are Jewish-Canadians, and both mothers took a huge number of pregnancy tests to confirm a baby was on the way.
Apatow contends the two stories are very different.
“The book is about a woman who gets pregnant by the fiance that she loves on the night of her engagement party,” he said in a statement. “The film is about a one-night stand between a pot smoking slacker and an ambitious young woman that leads to a pregnancy and their attempts to get to know each other.
“Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience.”
Eckler said she filed her copyright infringement lawsuit in January. The trial is set to begin in March 2008.
The movie opened in North America on June 1 and stars Seth Rogen as pot-smoking daddy Ben Stone and Katherine Heigl as the mom-to-be, Alison Scott. It earned an impressive $30.7 million in its first weekend.
“I can see why the movie’s successful. It’s funny,” said Eckler.

Love Kicks Cobain Shoe Ad to the Curb
Thanks in part to an outraged Courtney Love, a new Doc Martens ad has been given the boot.
The 42-year-old entertainer was steamed after learing that a new advertising campaign for the footwear company features late husband Kurt Cobain and other iconic punk rockers modeling boots in heaven.
The print ads, promoting the manufactuer’s AirWair line and only approved for use in the United Kingdom, portrayed the Nirvana star sitting in a cloudbank, clad all in white except for a pair of black boots. A tag line in corner reads: “Dr. Martens. Forever.” Similar ads featured the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious, the Clash’s Joe Strummer, and the Ramones’ Joey Ramone. The photos were leaked earlier this month via the music blog thedailyswarm.com.
“Courtney never approved the use of these images [for commercial gain] nor would she ever approve it. She knew nothing about it,” Love publicist Alan Nierob tells E! Online.
The rep said British law, unlike American, appears to allow companies to use the images of dead celebrities without explicit permission from their estates.
Nierob said that Love was having her lawyers double check, but added that any suggestion she’d take legal action at this point was “premature.”
Dr. Martens wasn’t willing to push the issue. Facing a PR nightmare and backlash from the same fans the company was trying to court, the shoemaker said it was scuttling the campaign.
“Dr. Martens is very sorry for any offense that has been caused by the publication of images showing dead rock icons wearing Dr. Martens boots,” the company said in a statement to E! Online. “Dr. Martens did not commission the work as it runs counter to our current marketing activities based on FREEDM, which is dedicated to nurturing grass roots creativity and supporting emerging talent.
“As a consequence, Dr Martens has terminated its relationship with the responsible agency.”
The “responsible agency,” London-based Saatchi & Saatchi, defended the work, saying the photographs of Cobain and company were legally purchased from Corbis, one of the world’s largest stock photo companies.
ìWe believe the ads are edgy but not offensive. There has been blog commentary both for and against the ads, but it is our belief that they are respectful of both the musicians and the Dr. Martens brand,î said Kate Stanners, the agency’s executive creative director.
Earlier, another campaign mastermind explanied the concept behind the ads to British music site NME. com
“We wanted to communicate that Dr. Marten boots are ‘made to last’ and we discovered that these idolized musicians wore them,” copywriter Andrew Petch said. “Showing them still wearing their Docs in heaven dramatized the boots’ durability perfectly. And, as images, they feel very iconic.”
But Nierob says Dr. Martens made the right move.
“They obviously realized they did something wrong,” the publicist said. “It was in poor taste.”
Aside from Love, many fans took issue with anti-establishment punkers being used to promote shoes, others questioned the veracity of the ads.
“Kurt wore…Converse. Donít know about Doc Martens,” Ruby 17 wrote on Love’s official Website, moonwashedrose.com. “Even so, they could have at least asked permission. Wondered if they asked permission from Joey Ramoneís estate or Sid Vicious estate as well? Does look tacky I agree.”
“I canít say I knew Kurt, but to me he doesnít seem like the guy that would wanna be a spokesperson for clothing and shoes. Neither does Sid or Joey,” a user named Linn added.
Love and Cobain married in 1992 and had a daughter, Frances Bean, before the grunge star killed himself in the couple’s Seattle home two years later.
Love controls Cobain’s estate and has been very hands-on when it comes to overseeing her late husband’s legacy.
But earlier this month, the “Doll Parts” singer announced plans to auction off the bulk of Cobain’s belongings.
“I still wear his pajamas to bed,” she told spinner.com. “How am I ever going to go form another relationship in my lifetime wearing Kurt’s pajamas? Everyone’s been positive and behind me on it,” she told the site. “We’ll make a lot of money and give a bunch of it to charity.”
No word yet on a date or which organization/s will receive the spoils. The garage sale comes about a year after Love struck a $50 million deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing for a 25 percent stake in Cobain’s music royalties.
Love, meanwhile, has been putting her past drug problems behind her, boasting online that she’s now clean and sober, has dropped 44 pounds, has fixed what she said was a botched nose job and is now living on a macrobiotic diet. She’s also prepping a new solo album, Nobody’s Daughter, which should be out later this year.

Chauffeur: Spector Said, “I Think I Killed Somebody”
The closest thing the Phil Spector prosecution has to a smoking gun took the stand today.
Adriano De Souza, who worked as Spector’s driver the night that Lana Clarkson was killed, reiterated his grand jury testimony from 2004, testifying Tuesday that his former boss came out of his house at about 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, and said, “I think I killed somebody.”
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office is arguing that Spector, who supposedly has a history of getting drunk and threatening his girlfriends with guns, killed Clarkson with a gunshot wound to the mouth in the hallway of his Alhambra mansion.
With De Souza’s input, prosecutors are looking to refute Spector’s explanation of the incident, which is that the actress shot herself.
Continuing the chain of testimony from people who saw Spector that night, De Souza described driving Spector and two different female companions to four L.A. nightspots, saying that, as the evening progressed, the Wall of Sound creator became increasingly intoxicated and moody.
Spector and Clarkson left the House of Blues in West Hollywood together at around 2:30 a.m., De Souza said. Spector seemed drunk and smelled of alcohol, and Clarkson at first refused his invitation to go home with him.
“I think she was afraid to go,” De Souza said. “She said she could lose her job if she got a ride with a customer.”
Eventually she relented. “I opened the door for her and she said she was going just for a drink,” he recalled.
“What did Mr. Spector say?” Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson asked.
“Don’t talk to the driverÖHe screamed it,” De Souza recalled.
When asked if he had any trouble understanding his boss, De Souza, a Brazilian immigrant who says he had been in the United States for four years before the night of Clarkson’s death, said he had no problem. He testified that he had worked for Spector 13 or 14 times in the past, usually at a rate of $30 an hour.
After making the 30-minute drive from West Hollywood to Alhambra, De Souza stayed in the car when Spector and Clarkson walked inside the famed music producer’s mansion, he testified. Spector returned a few moments later to grab a briefcase from the black Mercedes-Benz S430, but didn’t tell De Souza what was in it.
At about 5 a.m., De Souza said, he was asleep in the Mercedes, which was parked a few feet from the back entrance of Spector’s house, when he was awakened by a “pow” noise.
Spector walked out the back door a minute later, the driver said, holding a Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver in his right hand. The defendant also had a smudge of blood on his right index finger, De Souza said.
“I think I killed somebody,” Spector said, according to De Souza.
The driver then asked his boss, “What happened, sir?” To which Spector simply shrugged his shoulders, De Souza testified.
De Souza then told the court how he looked through the back door and saw Clarkson’s legs. Taking a closer look, he saw Clarkson, with blood on her face, slumped in a chair in the foyer.
The former Brazilian army lieutenant is expected to take the stand again Wednesday, where he’s sure to face heated cross-examination from Spector’s team.
In his opening statement a few weeks back, defense attorney Bruce Cutler called Spector’s purported confession to De Souza “five words allegedly said to someone taking a siesta.” Cutler has also dismissed the various stories from female witnesses who claim Spector once threatened them as “tall tales.”
Also tomorrow, forensics expert Henry Lee is expected to testify, without the jury present, with regard to the bit of acrylic fingernail the prosecution is contending Lee picked up at the scene of Clarkson’s death. The D.A.’s Office has accused the defense of tampering with evidence by not turning the so-called piece of nail over to prosecutors.
Before De Souza took the stand today, the jury heard from Sophia Holguin, Spector’s waitress at the House of Blues on Feb. 3, 2003, who testified that the man seemed “angry in general” and that, after he finished his drink, he asked her to come home with him, as well.
She refused, Holguin said, telling him she had something to do the next morning. She characterized his demeanor that night as agitated. He was also talking fast and slurring his words, she said.
Holguin testified that she asked Clarkson, who was working as a hostess in the House of Blues’ Foundation Room, to send Spector over to her section because he was a multimillionaire and a good tipper. It was a good callóSpector left a $450 tip on a $13.50 tab, she said.