Tyrese has had his fair amount of problems of late, not least of all an ongoing legal battle with his ex-wife, Norma Gibson.
But after posting a confessional video last week where he hinted that he needed a little help from his celebrity friends, it appears that Tyrese’s luck may have come back in.
In an Instagram post yesterday, Tyrese revealed that his mate Will Smith – the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air – and wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have given Tyrese an eyewatering $5 million to help cover his court costs. That’s a casual sum to just pull out of your pocket and give to a pal. Lucky for some, eh?
“My wife kept the news away from me cause I’ve been on with lawyers all day but our family and our sister Jada-Pinkett Smith and my brother Will Smith just sent us 5 million dollars to help keep us afloat,” Tyrese wrote in a caption to a photo of him laughing with Will Smith.
“You guys asked me to get off and stay off the Internet now that my daughter’s legal fees will be paid!”
Last Wednesday, Tyrese had posted an emotional video in which he revealed his frustration about several issues related to his legal battle with Gibson.
Mariah Carey‘s former security company has threatened to sue her … and the guy who owns the company says she constantly humiliated him by referring to him as a Nazi, a skinhead, a KKK member and a white supremacist.
Michael Anello‘s lawyer has prepared a draft of a lawsuit, claiming his company worked for Mariah from June 2015 to May 2017 and got stiffed on the balance to the tune of $221,329.51. Anello claims he was promised another 2 years which would add $511,000 to the tab.
Anello says Mariah humiliated him and his colleague by referring to them as members of the hate groups.
Anello also claims Mariah “wanted to be surrounded with black guys, not white people.”
The draft lawsuit also makes allegations of sexual harassment, claiming she committed “sexual acts with the intent that they be viewed by Anello.” Anello claims during a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mariah asked him to come to her room to move some luggage and when he got there, she was wearing a see-through negligee that was open. He says he tried leaving but she insisted he move the luggage. He says he left the room and there was no physical contact.
Mariah’s people tell us they were in touch with Anello’s lawyer Monday and were agreeable to pay certain invoices, but we’re told Anello is not satisfied with the amount.
Mariah’s people have no information on the sexual harassment claim.
The lawyer for Anello says the lawsuit is now on hold, presumably because they are in settlement negotiations.
Harvey Weinstein has filed a claim in private arbitration alleging that he was wrongfully terminated from the Weinstein Company, according to a court filing.
The Weinstein Co. filed papers in Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday, opposing Weinstein’s motion to expedite his suit in that court. Weinstein has sued his former company, seeking access to his personnel file and company email account.
In its opposition, the Weinstein Co. lawyers argue that he is improperly seeking to run around the discovery process in the arbitration case. Weinstein filed the suit in Delaware on Oct. 26. The court filings say that he initiated the arbitration case on the same day.
Weinstein was fired last month after the New York Times reported that he had settled numerous sexual harassment claims over three decades. Scores of women have since come forward to allege that they were harassed, groped, or raped by Weinstein. Weinstein has repeatedly denied all accusations of non-consensual sex.
Yes, Hollywood studios tend to be fiercely protective of their intellectual property. These studios will often sue over unlicensed merchandise in the marketplace. Usually, these cases go away quickly and quietly. The defendants tend not to have the resources to fight back. Settlements and stipulated judgments are the norm. Well, not this time.
On Friday, summary judgment papers came in a lawsuit that Disney has filed in New York against Nick Sarelli, who runs an operation called Characters for Hire, LLC.
Disney alleges that Sarelli has a “knock-off business … built upon the infringement of Plaintiffs’ highly valuable intellectual property rights,” including the fictional characters Darth Vader, Iron Man and Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Disney is upset how this company “provides unlicensed and poor quality appearances and performances” by actors dressed as “iconic characters for themed events, such as children’s parties.”
The lawsuit claims that the costumed actors appearing at these events and the advertising associated with this enterprise represent a violation of both its copyrights and trademark rights.
Anyone who has ever visited Times Square in New York City might wonder about the costumed characters taking pictures with tourists for money. The New York Police Department once even tried to get Disney to crack down. Disney didn’t take the bait, but for whatever reason, Mickey Mouse has put its foot down for Characters for Hire.
Who really owns the CG characters in blockbuster films like ‘Avengers’ and ‘Night at the Museum’? On Monday, a judge was told it’s not the studios.
Are some of Hollywood’s biggest movies from the past decade — Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Deadpool and Night at the Museum, among others — all copyright infringements because they were allegedly created with stolen technology? The question seems outlandish, and yet, that’s exactly what a California federal judge was told on Monday in a case that can’t be shrugged off as a crank even if it is now treading on some fantastic territory including a scholar’s search for hidden codes in the Hebrew Bible.
Rearden LLC is the plaintiff. The firm was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Perlman, who claims to own software called MOVA, which captures facial expressions to create photorealistic computer graphic effects. Rearden also alleges its technology was stolen by a former colleague before eventually landing in the hands of a Chinese firm. After the FBI investigated economic espionage, Rearden sued this Chinese company and won an injunction. Now, Rearden is suing the customers of the stolen technology — Disney, Fox and Paramount — who find their blockbusters the subject of bold intellectual property claims.
In response to the lawsuit, the studios have contended that that the copyright, trademark and patent claims fail as a matter of law. This story will focus on the mind-blowing copyright arguments.
At this stage of the dispute, the studios can’t dispute the truth of the allegations — not only did they use stolen technology, they did so knowingly. But Disney, Fox and Paramount ask, so what? Whatever shows up onscreen is primarily the product of human input, namely film direction and an actor’s performance. The technology company simply can’t own the output.
“Indeed, if Rearden’s authorship-ownership theory were law, then Adobe or Microsoft would be deemed to be the author-owner of whatever expressive works the users of Photoshop or Word generate by using those programs,” wrote Kelly Klaus, attorney for the defendants, who also nodded to an 1884 Supreme Court opinion, Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony.
