This article first appeared in Entertainment Law Matters, a Frankfurt Kurnit legal blog.
70's Rat on Fire novel ignites copyright dispute. Acclaimed author George V. Higgins's widow, Loretta Cubberley, filed a complaint against the Fund for Theatre and Television ("FTT") to halt its production of a film based on Higgins's novel Rat on Fire. Cubberley charges that FTT lost the book's exclusive motion picture rights it acquired in 1979, after sitting on them for over thirty years. Higgins, who had a successful career as a Boston prosecutor, authored 25 books focusing on Boston's criminal underworld and is considered one of the masters of the crime-novel genre. He initially wrote Rat on Fire as a manuscript for a PBS television miniseries, which was never produced, and subsequently released it as a novel. Cubberley speculates in her complaint that the miniseries project never came to light because PBS deemed the content inappropriate for public television (the book drew attention to some professional arsonists' practice to set rats on fire and release them in targeted buildings). She further contends that FTT dusted off the novel, in part, because a Brad Pitt film based on another Higgins book is in production.
Harley-Davidson's Brando boot starts off on the wrong foot. The iconic actor's brand licensing entity, Brando Enterprises, is suing Harley-Davidson Motor Company for launching a line of boots called The Brando without authorization. Brando's estate is seeking an order to bar the sale of the product, plus punitive damages and any profits on the boots' sale. According to the Associated Press, the boots look similar to those the late actor wore in the 1953 film classic The Wild One, and although Harley-Davidson does not currently offer them, they can still be purchased through some online retailers. A number of high-profile brands have licensing partnerships with Brando Enterprises, including Triumph motorcycles, MasterCard, and Dolce & Gabbana.
Disney cedes Seal Team 6 trademark to the Navy. The Walt Disney Company announced recently that it is abandoning its application for the Seal Team 6 trademark "out of deference to the Navy," following a competing application for the trademark by the Navy. Two days after the Navy Seals overpowered Osama Bin Laden, Disney applied in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark Seal Team 6. Had it acquired the trademark rights, Disney would have been able to sell a branded line of products like toys, video games, Christmas stockings, and Christmas-tree ornaments bearing the Navy team's name. The Navy's application for the trademark, filed ten days later, had the potential of blocking Disney's bid if the media conglomerate had not voluntarily withdrawn it (the Navy already owns the trademark for "Navy Seals"). There are currently three Navy Seals-themed films in production, including one by Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow.
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