JUDGE REFUSES TO DISMISS BEATTY’S DICK TRACY LAWSUIT
A federal judge has given the green light for WARREN BEATTY’s legal battl= e over the rights to DICK TRACY to continue after refusing to dismiss the= star’s suit against the franchise’s former owner.
In 2006, bosses at Tribune Media Services, a unit of bankrupt newspaper= publisher Tribune, took legal action against Beatty, alleging he "wrongl= y claims" to have exclusive motion picture and television rights to the p= olice detective brand - despite buying the broadcast rights in 1985.
The company claimed that as Beatty had not made any "productive use" of= the brand, the rights should be handed back to Tribune if he failed to b= egin production on a new Tracy project within two years. Although the act= or/director intended to follow up his 1990 film - which starred Madonna a= nd Robert De Niro - with a TV special, the production never came to fruit= ion.
In November (09), a judge gave the actor permission to press forward wi= th legal action. Lawyers for Tribune demanded that the case be thrown out= , while Beatty asked for the company to be penalised for seeking a dismis= sal.
However, U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson decided last week = (ends14Feb10) that the case should go ahead, ignoring the pleas of both p= arties. He said, "There is a substantial controversy between the parties = warranting the issuance of a declaratory judgment".
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