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Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc.


Self Description

Third-Party Descriptions

May 2011: 'He has gone to Federal District Court in St. Louis to ask a judge to stop Warner Brothers Entertainment from using the tattoo in its posters or in the movie, which would amount to stopping the film from being released, as well as to demand monetary damages for what he calls “reckless copyright infringement” by the studio.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/business/media/21tattoo.html?

March 2010: 'A short leap later and he was back in legal practice, handling film rights cases. One included a suit in which he won an injunction blocking Warner from releasing a big-screen version of “The Dukes of Hazzard.” A judge ruled in 2005 that Warner had failed to secure rights to an earlier movie, “Moonrunners,” on which the new film was partly based. Warner settled for a reported $17.5 million.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/business/21marvel.html

August 2009: 'Earlier this year, Warner Bros. took out public notices in the Times of India newspaper warning Bollywood against plans to make an Indian version of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." In an unexpected twist, a Warner Bros. case against producers of the Bollywood film "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" was thrown out by the Delhi High Court. But only because the plot had more in common with Macaulay Culkin in "Home Alone" than the boy wizard in the Harry Potter franchise, owned by Warner Bros.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/25/AR2009082503104.html

June 2009: 'The step was announced at a Wednesday morning news conference by the academy’s president, Sidney Ganis. Among other things, Mr. Ganis described it as a bid to connect the awards more closely with crowd-pleasers like Disney’s “Wall-E” or Warner Brothers’ “The Dark Knight” — neither of which made the list of five nominees earlier this year — and to enhance the appeal of the annual Oscar broadcast on ABC, which has struggled in the ratings in recent years.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/business/26oscar.html

April 2008: "Her plea came on a day that began with the judge, Robert P. Patterson, urging Ms. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment, the company that produces the Harry Potter movies, to try to settle the case. They are suing Mr. Vander Ark’s publisher, RDR Books, based in Michigan, to stop publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon. Ms. Rowling contends in the lawsuit that the lexicon copies large chunks of material from her own books while adding little new information and insight."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/nyregion/17potter.html

December 2007: "But Warner Brothers pulled out in late August, and Mr. Mandoki and Mr. Arreola say the decision was political. They say Mr. Borbolla told them that he had been warned he would make enemies at Televisa, the dominant Mexican television network, if he distributed the film. Televisa owns Videocine-Distribucion, the company with which Warner Brothers has a distribution partnership in Mexico."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/americas/02mexico.html

February 2008: "I suspect he’s right, though it is likely to be a long struggle — which will involve a lot more legal cases like Warner Bros. Entertainment and J. K. Rowling v. RDR Books. And a lot of attitudes will need to change as well, starting with Ms. Rowling’s."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/business/09nocera.html
August 2002: Entertainment company, originally a movie company.

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owner of (partial or full, past or present) Mad Magazine Source
Opponent (past or present) RDR Books Organization Feb 10, 2008
Opponent (past or present) Redbox Automated Retail Organization May 25, 2010
Owner of (partial or full, past or present) Time Warner Organization Apr 14, 2004
Financial Supporter of (past or present) J. K. Rowling Person Feb 10, 2008
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Terry Semel Person Jan 22, 2006

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
May 20, 2011 On Tyson’s Face, It’s Art. On Film, a Legal Issue.

QUOTE: In “The Hangover Part II,” the sequel to the very successful what-happened-last-night comedy, the character played by Ed Helms wakes up with a permanent tattoo bracketing his left eye. The Maori-inspired design is instantly recognizable as the one sported by the boxer Mike Tyson...But S. Victor Whitmill, a tattoo artist formerly of Las Vegas and currently from rural Missouri, doesn’t quite see the humor. Mr. Whitmill designed the tattoo for Mr. Tyson, called it “tribal tattoo,” and claims it as a copyrighted work.

 New York Times
Feb 27, 2011 Insulting Chuck Lorre, Not Abuse, Gets Sheen Sidelined

QUOTE: So the message from CBS and Warner Brothers seems clear: abuse yourself and the women around you to your heart’s content, but do not attack the golden goose.

 New York Times
Mar 19, 2010 A Supersized Custody Battle Over Marvel Superheroes

QUOTE: conflict between intellectual property lawyers and media companies that, in Mr. Toberoff’s view, have made themselves vulnerable by building franchises atop old creations. So-called branded entertainment — anything based on superheroes, comic strips, TV cartoons or classic toys — may be easier to sell to audiences, but the intellectual property may also ultimately belong in full or in part to others.

 New York Times
Sep 06, 2009 Movie Studios See a Threat in Growth of Redbox

QUOTE: Furious about a potential cannibalization of DVD sales and a broader price devaluation of their product, three studios (20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Universal) are refusing to sell DVDs to Redbox [a video rental vending machine company] until at least 28 days after they arrive in stores.

 New York Times
Sep 02, 2009 Movie studios again demand HDTV disabling powers from FCC

QUOTE: "The vast majority of consumers would not have to purchase new devices to receive the new, high-value content contemplated by MPAA's" request, the group [MPAA] assures the FCC.

 Ars Technica
Aug 26, 2009 Paying the Price for Hollywood Remakes: Bollywood Facing Copyright Lawsuits

QUOTE: American moviemakers have begun suing their counterparts in India, a sure sign that this country's booming, $2.2 billion-a-year film industry has arrived as a global player.

 Washington Post
Jun 25, 2009 Not All Are Pleased by Wider Red Carpet

QUOTE: Those include a belief that the advertising value of a nomination for best picture will be diluted as they become more common, and a widespread fear that a larger number of filmmakers will be pressing for Oscar campaigns at a time when strapped companies have been trying to curtail them....the widened field would certainly be a boon for the industry’s trade papers, which depend heavily on awards advertising.

 New York Times
Sep 30, 2008 RealNetworks Picks A Piracy Fight

QUOTE: ...RealNetworks, the maker of RealPlayer software, began selling RealDVD, a $50 program that allows users to "rip" DVD files from discs and store them in an iTunes-like library. The program rankles movie studios bent on preventing users from copying rented DVDs or ripping their friends' collections. But Real argues its software doesn't break the encryption on video files and is therefore legal.

 Forbes
Apr 17, 2008 Trial Over Potter Lexicon Ends With an Olive Branch

QUOTE: [Ms. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment] are suing Mr. Vander Ark’s publisher, RDR Books, based in Michigan, to stop publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon. Ms. Rowling contends in the lawsuit that the lexicon copies large chunks of material from her own books while adding little new information and insight.

 New York Times
Feb 09, 2008 A Tight Grip Can Choke Creativity

QUOTE: [Rowling] is essentially claiming that....no one else can use [her characters] without her permission....copyright holders have tried to impose rules on the rest of us — through threats and litigation — that were never intended to be part of copyright law...

 New York Times
Dec 02, 2007 Film on Mexico’s Disputed ’06 Election Stirs Emotions

QUOTE: The new film, “Fraud, Mexico 2006,” lays out in detail the arguments of leftists who say the combination of a smear campaign and fraud at polling places swung the election to President Calderón. Mr. Mandoki got financial backing for the movie from Federico Arreola, a journalist, entrepreneur and close campaign adviser to Mr. López Obrador.

 New York Times
Apr 15, 2007 Media Frenzy: A Soft Sell With Cold, Hard Cash in Mind

QUOTE: Can material spawned in such a way be anywhere near as effective as traditional advertising, or as good as conventional programming that is born by creative inspiration rather than to help sell something? After all, Samuel Goldwyn once observed (in a slightly different context): “Pictures are for entertainment. Messages should be delivered by Western Union.”

 New York Times
Aug 29, 2006 Universal Backs Free Music Rival to iTunes

QUOTE: reflects the music industry’s eagerness to experiment with various digital business models and to find a way to overcome piracy and illegal copying...record executives have begun to chafe at Apple’s dominance in the online market, particularly its insistence on a one-size-fits-all pricing model, saying it has restricted the growth of digital sales.

 New York Times
Aug 08, 2005 Hollywood's Profits, Demystified: The real El Dorado is TV.

QUOTE: The best-kept secret in Hollywood, especially from Wall Street, is that the movie studios' biggest profit center is not theatrical movies, or even DVD sales; it is TV licensing...The studios purposely blur together their three principal revenue sources—the box office, video sales, and television licensing—into a single portmanteau category...

 Slate
Aug 15, 2002 Most Companies Meet Deadline for Certifying Results

QUOTE: most big companies certified their earnings in time to meet a government deadline...

 New York Times
Aug 12, 2002 AOL's Inventive Barter Deals Draw Scrutiny of Investigators

QUOTE: As the Securities and Exchange Commission pursues investigations into some of AOL's down-on-their-luck Internet business partners like Homestore.com and PurchasePro.com, AOL Time Warner is finding its reputation tarnished by association.

 New York Times