Herman Cain Cancels Private Dinner With Media A-Listers Including Barbara Walters, Matt Lauer (Report)

Summit Entertainment, no doubt celebrating the smash box office success of the latest Twilight film, has scored another victory. The studio has prevailed on most of the issues in a summary judgment ruling against a retailer that was advertising for sale a jacket worn by "Bella Swan."our editor recommendsForeign Box Office: 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I' Sags 49% But Still No. 1 Overseas Box Office Report: 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' Powers Thanksgiving, Nears $500 Mil Worldwide'Twilight' Stars' Hand and Footprints Immortalized at Chinese Theatre Ceremony (Live Video)'Twilight' Author Dissed By 'Vampire Chronicles' Writer In 2010, B.B. Dakota was hit with a copyright and trademark infringement claim for promoting a blue cotton canvas jacket by telling young girls that"Bella Swann (sic) wears this jacket in Twilight and scores the hottest vampire in high school, and so can you!" PHOTOS: 10 Biggest Book-to-Big Screen Adaptations of the Last 25 Years Bella's jacket quickly became part of fashion lore. Entertainment Weekly detailed how it got into the film; Women's Wear Daily wrote that it was "the stuff that legends are made of"; MTV pronounced that the jacket "brings you this much closer to Robert Pattinson"; Stylist.com called it "love at first bite, er, sight." And SoJones.com mooned that it was "very vampirelicious." Only problem was that Summit had never licensed the jacket. A trade dress vampire had bitten the goodwill of its own mark, so Summit demanded destruction of the jacket stock. PHOTOS: Top 15 Grossing Threequels of All Time B.B. Dakota defended itself several ways. First, the retailer claimed that it had a valid license. B.B. Dakotainitially wanted to republish the image used on Entertainment Weekly's website on its own, but was told that it needed permission from Summit. One of BB Dakota's public relations reps then had an e-mail conversation with Amanda Boury, a Summit PR rep, and asked for permission to "highlight the jacket on [the] website along with the image from the movie," Boury responded "Ok." But B.B. Dakotawas alleged to have not used the EW image. Rather, she created "hangtags" affixed to another image of the Bella character. The image came from Summit's promotional posters. PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of 'Twilight' Nevertheless, B.B. Dakota said it still was in the clear because its use was a "nominative fair use," meaning that the retailer was deploying the trademark to describe Summit's product rather than its own. In the past, courts have allowed such "nominative fair use" so long as the product in question is not readily identifiable without use of the mark, that a user only uses so much of the mark as necessary, and that the use of the mark doesn't suggest sponsorship or endorsement. (Twi-hards, let us introduce thee to what the 9th Circuit has to say aboutNew Kids on the Block merchandise.) Judge Gary Allen Feess has rejected B.B. Dakota's fair use arguments. He finds that "there is a real question as to whether any use was necessary given the fact that the jacket had been successfully marketed for two to three years before the first Twilight movie was released." Perhaps even more damaging, the judge rules that the defendant "made far more extensive use of Summit's marks and copyrighted materials than was necessary," including taking the image of Bella and the actual Twilight mark with its particular font. If B.B. Dakota can take any solace in Judge Feess' decision, it's that Summit hasn't fully prevailed just yet on the issue of damages, or whether its trademark was diluted by the retailer's use. Strangely, that's only because Summit hasn't been fully convincing on whether its mark is famous and distinctive enough. Sure, the films have grossed more than $1 billion, but the judge points out that the Twilight marks are used elsewhere and that the studio hasn't presented evidence such as consumer surveys that show the public recognizes Twilight marks as sufficiently famous. The judge rules this is an issue of material fact that could be subject to a trial. Still, Summit has a strong edge here. The studio has established a likelihood of dilution, based on various other factors, Meaning that Summit at least gets a favorable decision as it continues to diligently police its trademarks on Twilight. It's now up to the studio to decide whether to rest there or go further. Don't be surprised to see Summit, which has made some $63 million from licensed merchandise, have its own jacket in store. According to the decision, Summithas sold clothing bearing Twilight marks since 2008. Here's the full decision. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1' Black Carpet Premiere Arrivals Twilight

2012 Spirit Award Nominations Introduced

The Artist, Drive & more up for gongsAwards months are under way now, not to mention the various events are becoming their lists available. Today sees the turn from the Spirit Honours, which honours films designed for under $20 million by US producers.And in the looks from the list, the teams behind Drive, Take Shelter, 50/50 and also the Artist all turn to maintain having a possibility of going home having a gong or two.The honours is going to be passed out in the usual beach locale in LA on Feb 25, yesterday the Academy awards. Take a look at a listing from the major groups below.BEST FEATURE50/50BeginnersDriveTake ShelterThe ArtistThe DescendantsBEST DIRECTORMike Mills, BeginnersNicholas Winding Refn, DriveJeff Nichols, Take ShelterMichel Hazanavicius, The ArtistAlexander Payne, The DescendantsBEST FIRST FEATURE Another EarthIn The FamilyMargin CallMartha Marcy May MarleneNatural SelectionJOHN CASSAVETES AWARD BellflowerCircumstanceHello LonesomePariahThe DynamiterBEST SCREENPLAYJoseph Cedar plank, FootnoteMichel Hazanavicius, The ArtistTom McCarthy, Win WinMike Mills, BeginnersAlexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The DescendantsBEST FIRST SCREENPLAYMike Cahill & Brit Marling, Another EarthJ.C. Chandor, Margin CallPatrick DeWitt, TerriPhil Johnston, Cedar plank RapidsWill Reiser, 50/50BEST FEMALE LEADLauren Ambrose, Think About MeRachel Harris, Natural SelectionAdepero Oduye, PariahElizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May MarleneMichelle Williams, My Week With MarilynBEST MALE LEADDemian Bichir, A Much Better LifeJean Dujardin, The ArtistRyan Gosling, DriveWoody Harrelson, RampartMichael Shannon, Take ShelterBEST SUPPORTING FEMALEJessica Chastain, Take ShelterAngelica Huston, 50/50Janet McTeer, Albert NobbsHarmony Santana, Gun Hill RoadShailene Woodley, The DescendantsBEST SUPPORTING MALEAlbert Brooks, DriveJohn Hawkes, Martha Marcy May MarleneChristopher Plummer, BeginnersJohn C. Reilly, Cedar plank RapidsCorey Stoll, Night time In ParisBEST CINEMATOGRAPHYJoel Hodge, BellflowerBenjamin Kasulke, The Off HoursDarius Khondji, Night time In ParisGuillaume Schiffman, The ArtistJeffrey Waldron, The DynamiterBEST DOCUMENTARYAn African ElectionBill Cunningham NYThe InterruptersThe Redemption Of General Butt NakedWe Were HereBEST FOREIGN FILMA SeparationMelancholiaShameThe Kid Having A BikeTyrannosaurROBERT ALTMAN AWARD Margin Call

Nat Geo docu peers into NSA

The ultra-secret National Security Agency has done the unthinkable: It's agreed to let in TV cameras.The org will be the unlikely subject of a National Geographic Channel docu in January called "Inside the NSA" -- marking one of the very few times the agency has allowed a camera crew inside.Nat Geo has carved out a niche for itself with programs dedicated to the inner workings of secret government institutions -- the net has tackled the Green Berets, Area 51 and the CIA -- but this one will be hard to top.Michael Cascio, programming topper for Nat Geo, said that the team had gone "places no cameras had ever been into" for the hourlong special. The centerpiece of the show will be a trip into NTOC, a high-security (even for the NSA) section of the agency's Fort Meade, Md., operations center created to monitor cyber-attacks.Cascio said that the NSA has jurisdiction over what footage airs from inside the facility, but Nat Geo retains editorial control over the final product. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com

Bret McKenzie Shares 'Hobbit' Set Tales Talks 'Flight in the Conchords' Movie (Video)

LONDON - James Murdochstepped lower from numerous senior positions controlling the group's British newspapers in September without developing a public announcement, it emerged Wednesday.our editor recommends'James Murdoch Arrested' Tweet Taken Lower by Sky NewsJames Murdoch Confesses News Corp. Put British MPs Under Covert SurveillanceNews Corp.: 35% of Investor Votes Opposed James Murdoch Rupert Murdoch Was Asked for by Parents of Wiped out Schoolgirl to 'Put Things Right' at News Corp. Over Phone-HackingRelated Subjects•Rupert Murdoch Per documents filed at Companies House on Sept. 16, it appears that Murdoch walked lower two several days ago from his position as director of News Group Newspapers, which handles The Sunand What Is The News around the world, to ensure that as director of Occasions Newspapers, which runs The Timesand The Sunday Occasions. He's also walked lower as director of Director of News Worldwide Holdings. PHOTOS: News around the world's Top Ripoffs News Group Newspapers remains involved with many criminal and judicial research into alleged criminal activities within the posting group. However, he'll stay in many much spoken about positions that advise a ongoing relationship while using newspaper operation which has been so damaged with the phone-hacking details that eventually forced the closure in the News around the world. Murdoch remains executive chairman of News Worldwide - the division that creates The Sun's Sun rays, The Occasions, The Sunday Timesand formerly What Is The News in the Worldand he remains director in the Timesnewspaper board. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Memorable Mea Culpas News Worldwide reps haven't given grounds for your failure to announce such key changes after they happened but mentioned they simply reflected Tom Mockridge's appointment as leader of News Worldwide. "Carrying out a appointment of Tom Mockridge as Boss of News Worldwide, in September James Murdoch walked reduced it's of several News Worldwide subsidiary companies including News Group Newspapers (NGN) and Occasions Newspapers Ltd (TNL). He remains Chairman of NI Group Ltd (News Worldwide) together with a director of Occasions Newspapers Holdings Ltd (TNHL), the holding company of Occasions Newspapers," the business mentioned in the statement. Mockridge, the first sort Boss of Sky Italia, was hired to use the newspaper operation after his predecessor Rebekah Waderesigned, and was soon after that arrested within this summer time. James Murdoch also remains non-executive chairman of BSkyB, that's 39 percent-possessed by News Corp. Meanwhile, News Ltd Australia has without any reason declined claims it tried to bribe a classic Australian senator, Bill O'Chee. "News Limited chairman and leader John Hartigan without any reason declined accusations of improper conduct through the organization which have been launched inside the Fairfax press today," the business mentioned in the statement reported with the Wall Street Journal, part of News Corporation. Australia's Federal Police has confirmed for the newspaper it's considering claims the first kind Queensland senator happen to be offered favorable news coverage in exchange for supporting specific digital television legislation. Related Subjects Worldwide News Worldwide News Group Newspapers James Murdoch Phone Hacking Scandal

Marijuana on tv: A budding acceptance

Taxation cast a extended shadow over American politics. But his wife Nancy has loved her own lengthy lasting legacy while using "Just RefuseInch campaign, which enlisted media -- especially specific toward youth -- as antidrug crusaders.A period later, however, the occasions they are a-changing. Yes, you will discover still plenty of shows striking a scolding posture toward substance abuse. However, many more -- especially on cable -- view striking some pot or bong up to now another part of characters' lives.Returning few years, cable series like "Weeds," "Californication," "Wilfred" and nearly anything on Comedy Central now employ this method. It absolutely was significant, though, to find out a present episode of CBS' "two and a half Males" where the teenage boy finds a lost water line within the late uncle's piano and nobody stops to lecture him in regards to the perils of getting high.Still, an even more notable breakthrough might be going to reality TV, where drugs have largely been presented in the cautionary mode, from "Intervention" to "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Came." Similar to unscripted fare, the inclination would be to put on abuse arrived at dangerous extremes.Against that backdrop, it's worth being mindful to "Weed Wars," a Discovery Funnel series premiering noisy . December that focuses on a cannabis dispensary in Concord, Calif.Because the center boasts an eccentric quantity of figures, they are a somewhat harmless lot, and speak freely about delicately "medicating." In addition, one guy describes he began properly growing pot plants we now have spent just like a mortgage banker, which made him feel a good deal dirtier.Such breakthroughs are incremental, to make certain, but reflect a gradual evolution, as evidenced with a brand new Gallup Poll that the first time found half of participants support making marijuana legal.According to Ethan Nadelmann, professional director in the Drug Policy Alliance, dramatic depictions of marijuana are progressively incidental for the plot, not the thrust from this. "It's normalization," according to him. "It is not Cheech & Chong, which is not 'Reefer Madness.' It's background."This type of atmosphere signifies reasonable departure in the period as recent since the Clinton administration, when systems eagerly enlisted inside the government's war against drugs.Inside the late the 19 nineties, ABC launched a deal together with Partnership for just about any Drug-Free America referred to as March Against Drugs, which incorporated weaving antidrug messages to the network's daytime and primetime programs.As Salon noted in 2000, under then-White-colored House drug czar Craig R. McCaffrey, the us government even weaseled its distance to programming options -- viewing scripts of implies that consists of "Just RefuseInch pitches, within complex plan enabling tv producers to leverage such episodes to reclaim ad time which will otherwise will need to go toward antidrug spots. Obviously, drugs remain a dicey proposition in TV and flicks. The Film Assn. of America's rating recommendations condition: "Any substance abuse will initially require no less than a PG-13 rating." couple of years ago, the romantic comedy "It's Complicated" got hit by getting an R because grown-up figures carried out by Meryl Streep and Steve Martin smoked marijuana without effects.Sex and coarse language will almost always garner more attention, possibly, but drugs have possibly been more taboo. Because context, representing pot smoking incorporated within the scenery does represent a big change. The key reason why are various, like the vital that you achieve youthful audiences, an outburst in niche programming and aging baby-senior citizens who might preach abstinence for his or her kids but merely mentioned "yes" themselves. Some teens try out pot, Nadelmann states, "This really is really the very first generation of scholars where most their parents have attempted marijuana. There's a less-hysterical atmosphere."Within the PBS documentary "Prohibition," filmmaker Ken Burns titled one chapter "A Nation of Scofflaws." And numerous Us citizens have delicately scoffed at laws and regulations and rules against marijuana for several years.As Nadelmann concedes, Hollywood remains wary regarding drugs, though some tend to be adventurous than these. Snoop Dogg even fortunate "Weed Wars" by recording the show's original title track.Whatever inroads are actually made, though, TV isn't inside the add the issue. Within the eagerness to discover a stylish youthful crowd, it's simply carrying out a smoke signals. n Contact John Lowry at john.lowry@variety.com

'My Week With Marilyn' Katy Perry Mash-Up: The One Which Got Away? (VIDEO)

.publish-content img Since it is Friday, here's the Katy Perry/'My Week With Marilyn' mash-up you purchased. After Perry opened the extended version of her video for "The One Which Got Away" with advanced tests of 'My Week With Marilyn' a week ago, The Weinstein Company has revealed a brand new video that mixes clips from 'Marilyn' with Perry's latest single from the apparently bottomless album, 'Teenage Dream.' The end result? Well, like a Katy Perry devotee, it is not as good because the actual version of "The One Which Got Away" -- nor its video with Diego Luna and Katy Perry in old-lady make-up -- however it does feature Dominic Cooper and Derek Jacobi. So, draw? Watch above. 'My Week With Marilyn' has gone out in theaters on November. 23. Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

ABC Sets Midseason Schedule, But Cougar Town Is Missing!

Cougar Town Maybe it's time to start preparing the #SaveCougarTown hashtag? ABC released its midseason schedule Friday, but the Courteney Cox-starring comedy was conspicuously absent. Sources tell TVGuide.com that Cougar Town will still return in the spring, though an official premiere date has not yet been set. NBC benches Community, sets series finale date for Chuck Still, there are plenty of other series returns and premieres to look forward to. New comedy Work It will kick off ABC's midseason lineup on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 8/7c, followed by Celebrity Wife Swap at 9/8c. Other new series The River will bow on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 9/8c, while GCB premieres Sunday, March 4 at 10/9c. Missing, starring Ashley Judd, will take Charlie's Angels' old slot on Thursdays at 8/7c beginning Thursday, March 15.Premiere dates for Shonda Rhimes' new drama Scandal and comedy Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 have not yet been set. Check out ABC's full midseason premiere dates schedule: Tuesday, Jan. 3 8:30-9 p.m. - Work It 9-10 p.m. - Celebrity Wife Swap Thursday, Jan. 5 8-9 p.m. - Winter Wipeout Friday, Feb. 3 8-9 p.m. - Shark Tank Tuesday, Feb. 7 9-10 p.m. - The River Sunday, March 4 10-11 p.m. - GCB Thursday, March 15 8-9 p.m. - Missing Monday, March 19 8-10 p.m. - Dancing with the Stars Tuesday, March 27 9-10 p.m. - Dancing with the Stars the results show What do you think of Cougar Town's absence?