Judge Rejects Gilbert Arenas' Attempts to Block VH1's 'Basketball Wives' (Exclusive)

Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images A California federal judge has rejected NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas' attempts to block VH1's Basketball Wives and turned down a request to stop former fiancé Laura Govan from appearing on the show and mentioning his name. Further, Shed Media, the producers of the show, have successfully got the judge to grant an anti-SLAPP motion that strikes all of Arenas' claims as an impingement of free speech except for allegations of a publicity rights infringement. There, the judge dismisses the claim, but is allowing Arenas to file an amended complaint. The just-released decision comes as a huge relief for VH1, which plans to debut the latest LA-based season of Basketball Wives on Monday. In recent months, the show has been hit with a number of lawsuits and legal warnings from various NBA players including Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard. STORY: Judge Tosses Chris Bosh Lawsuit Over VH1's 'Basketball Wives' Arenas' lawsuit got the furthest, requiring Judge Dolly Gee to examine whether Govan's association with a show titled "Basketball Wives" could establish a connection to Arenas' likeness and trademark. The judge says yes -- that it will be likely that Govan will discuss Arenas on the show and that the show's raison d'etre is to spotlight female relationships with professional basketball players like Arenas. Even if the show is careful about overtly touting such a connection between Govan and Arenas, media outlets will spot it. According to the decision: "In an age of tabloid journalism and celebrity obsession, news outlets frequently uncover and publicize connections between celebrities. For example, in the run-up to the 2008 election, it was widely reported that then-Senator Obama was a distant relative of then-Vice President Cheney, though presumably neither individual sought to be associated with the other." In sum, there's no escaping the fact that Arenas becomes part of this show in some form. However, mere appropriation of Arenas' name and likeness doesn't necessarily equate to misappropriation, writes the judge... "On the record currently before the Court, it appears that any references in BWLA to Arenas will be incidental to the show's plot as a whole. At its core, the show is about the women who have or have had relationships with basketball players rather than the players themselves. Thus, the show appears to be transformative." Further, the judge finds there's also fair use to Arenas' name because there's a matter of public interest involved. Observers might find it odd that a silly VH1 reality TV show could qualify as such importance under the First Amendment, but Judge Gee clarifies: "Arenas suggests that any discussion of his family life is not sufficiently related to his celebrity to render BWLA's use of his identity a matter of public concern. This contention is belied by the tens of thousands of Twitter users who follow Arenas as he tweets about a variety of mundane occurrences. " Judge Gee then goes on to note there's little evidence of "actual malice," thus ridding of the defamation claim, and that the show's advertising doesn't imply any endorsement on Arenas' part, thus nixing the commercial misappropriation claim. As for Arenas' trademark allegations, the judge finds there isn't any likelihood that viewers will be confused."Although Arenas' marks are strong," writes Judge Gee, "they are completely dissimilar to Shed Media's title. No one would confuse Arenas with a basketball wife." Arenas will be resigned to watching the show, and if he spots any gruesome misappropriation of his likeness, can refile an amended complaint in the next couple of weeks. But given the show will have come out and the judge's stated conclusion he's unlikely to prevail, we can say that Arenas has been soundly trounced on in court by the mother of his four children. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner VH1 Basketball Wives

CAA Signs Toby Kebbell

CAA has signed Toby Kebbell, the youthful British actor who performed an unforgettable gunman in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, then playing John Wilkes Booth within the Robert Redford-directed The Conspirator, and it has leads within the approaching Steven Spielberg-directed War Equine and also the Jonathan Liebesman-directed Clash from the Leaders 2. Kebbell have been at WME. He remains with UK's Independent Talent.

Miramax, Facebook Launch Biggest-Scale Streaming Movie Application up to now

NEW You are able to - Miramax Films is starting the biggest-scale Facebook streaming movie application to-date, PaidContent reported. It's the latest part of Boss Mike Lang's attempt to earn money from the studio's library in digital form. Miramax will start its Facebook offer with 20 game titles for rental within the U.S. and 10 each within the U.K. and Poultry, based on PaidContent. France and Germany are required to follow along with soon. Facebook customers will have the ability to rent for thirty days such Miramax game titles as Chicago, Cold Mountain and Good Will Hunting, for 30 Facebook credits, the same as $3, based on the report. Rental fees will expire 48 hrs following a user has began viewing a title. Game titles restricted to the U.S. for the time being because of privileges issues include No Country for Old Males and Pulp Fiction. Warner Bros., Viacom's Vital Pictures and NBCUniversal's Universal have each formerly introduced different iterations of Facebook movie offers. The Miramax films leased on Facebook could be viewed with an iPad as well as on Google TV. Related Subjects Facebook Miramax Films

D23: Serta Scanlon and Billy Very talk Monsters College

Monsters College might feature Michael 'Mike' Wazowski and James P 'Sulley' Sullivan's college days however the prequel film also saw the development team heading to school too."At Pixar we all do our homework before we begin work which meant literally returning to college,Inch stated director Serta Scanlon, before joking: "The majority of us visited art school and also have no clue such a real college appears like.InchInchIt is an animated college movie," Scanlon stated, before solely revealing the more youthful designs for Sully and Mike and revealing a few of the other figures. "You have your awesome monsters, your nerdy monsters as well as goth monsters."He also says Steve Buscemi would return because the voice of Randall Boggs.Billy Very and John Goodman appeared as if these were getting fun inside a video message performed onscreen towards the crowd, before Very walked off camera and with the curtains to exhibit up survive stage for an appreciative audience.Speaking concerning the voice acting he stated Goodman and themself were getting an enjoyable experience being together again after ten years, adding that, "college is really a lengthy way away for me personally!InchIt's going to be rather a watch for Monsters College: "Our film continues to be 2 yrs out but we wanted to inform you around we are able to,Inch Scanlon stated.

Jay-Z to Perform at Ryan Seacrest-Hosted iHeartRadio Music Festival

Jay-Z has been added to the lineup of Clear Channel's inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival, hosted by Ryan Seacrest.our editor recommends'Watch The Throne': Inside Jay-Z's Private Listening Session'Watch the Throne': Jay-Z, Kanye West Leak New Song From Upcoming Album; Fans React (Audio)Independent Retailers' Open Letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West About 'Watch The Throne' Exclusives The rapper will perform solo, without Kanye West, his collaborator on their new album, Watch the Throne. He will close out opening night of the two-day fest, which takes place Sept. 23-24 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. STORY: How Jay-Z and Kanye West Beat the Leakers With 'Watch the Throne' The multiple Grammy winner has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. He and West released Throne last week, with the album shooting to the top of the iTunes charts in 23 countries. Jay-Z joins a lineup that includes Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, the Black Eyed Peas, Kenny Chesney, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, Jane's Addiction, Nicki Minaj, John Mayer, David Guetta, Rascal Flatts, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, Sublime with Rome and special performances by Usher and Sting. STORY: Jay-Z, Kanye West's Watch the Throne Called 'Instant Classic' The event is intended to celebrate the launch of the New iHeartRadio, Clear Channel's digital radio product. It sold out 10 minutes after tickets were put on sale to the general public. STORY:Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler to Headline iHeartRadio Music Festival Live audio and video streams of the iHeartRadio Music Festival will be available online, via mobile devices at www.iHeartRadio.com and across all of Clear Channel's radio station websites. Related Topics Jay-Z Ryan Seacrest

A Bitter Taste of Freedom

A Goldfilms and Dixit Intl. presentation. (International sales: the Yellow Affair, Stockholm.) Produced by Marina Goldovskaya, Malcolm Dixelius. Directed, written by Marina Goldovskaya.With: Anna Politkovskaya, Mihkail Gorbachev, Karinna Moskalenko, Alla Bossart. (Russian dialogue)Profoundly moving, politically provocative and apt to provoke moral outrage in anyone short of Vladimir Putin, "A Bitter Taste of Freedom" is acclaimed documentarian Maria Goldovskaya's portrait of her longtime friend Anna Politkovskaya, the crusading Russian journalist whose still-unsolved 2006 murder remains a symbol of the national corruption she tried to expose. Goldovskaya does not concern herself with the killing as much as with Politkovskaya's character and the conflicts in Chechnya she covered so doggedly, presumably leading to her death. Festival play and likely ecstatic word of mouth should lead to a specialty run beyond the pic's Oscar-qualifying DocuWeeks berth. Pic reps a very personal follow-up to Goldovskaya's 1991 docu "A Taste of Freedom," in which Politkovskaya and her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Russian TV personality Sasha, were subjects. That film was made during Russia's honeymoon with democracy; that things haven't quite worked out is clear from the title of the new pic, which was originally intended to be a sequel set in the post-Putin era. In preparation for a film that would have reassessed the course of Russian history since the fall of communism, Goldovskaya interviewed Politkovskaya extensively, yielding the powerful, poignant conversations that are at the heart of "A Bitter Taste of Freedom." Politkovskaya, whose public persona seemed rather severe (especially to Westerners who saw her only in still photographs), is heartbreakingly lovely here, not just physically, but artistically: From the resolve she brings to her work, she seems to know she's sealing her own fate. As explained by several of the late journalist's colleagues, Politkovskaya was not a naturally brave woman, which somehow makes her all the braver. She approached her trips to Chechnya (notably, during the Second Chechnyan War) with enormous fear, one friend says. But she went all the same, because -- as an old ally, Mihkail Gorbachev, remembers somewhat sadly -- she was an idealist, albeit one who seemed to mask her ideals beneath a stern exterior. Through their friendship and her camera, Goldovskaya penetrates that businesslike exterior, and the Politkovskaya she uncovers is radiant, if sometimes alarmingly resigned to her country's descent into gangsterism. What both Politkovskaya and Goldovskaya (who currently teaches at UCLA) saw as the degeneracy of the Putin regime is exemplified by two notorious events: the so-called Nord-Ost siege of 2002, in which 170 people died after Russian authorities pumped deadly gas into a theater that had been taken over by Chechen separatists, and the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, which ended when Russian security forces stormed the school; more than 300 people died, including nearly 200 children. Putin used both tragedies as an excuse to crack down on Chechnya and intensify his authoritarian rule at home. The shooting of Politkovskaya wasn't the first attempt on her life. En route to help negotiate at Beslan, she was poisoned aboard an airplane; Goldovskaya's interview with her friend on a hospital gurney -- who else could have gotten such footage? -- is just one of the remarkable sequences offering a privileged glimpse into the life of a woman who becomes increasingly mythic, even as the circumstances of her death remain unresolved. Production values are mixed, footage having been gathered from a variety of sources, including homemovies and TV news.Camera (color), Goldovskaya; editor, Dmitry Sushev; music, Bruce Hanifan; sound designer, Hanifan. Reviewed on DVD, New York, Aug. 11, 2011. (In DocuWeeks.) Running time: 85 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

'The Voice's' Adam Levine Sues Activision

Getty ImagesAdam Levine The Voice coach and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine is suing Activision. Levine has fied a suit against the organization's Guitar Hero spinoff gaming Band Hero alleging the new game exploits his title and likeness to be able to "raise the sales" of the overall game, based on papers acquired through the Hollywood Reporter. He's suing for fraudulent inducement, breach of contract, breach of common-law right of publicity and unfair business functions or practices. Damages were unspecified. COVER STORY: The Miracle of 'The Voice' Levine had initially granted the organization limited utilization of his title and likeness for Band Hero, but any utilisation of the singer's title and likeness was subject his approval, based on the suit. Levine allegedly permitted Activision to make use of "She'll Be Loved" for Band Hero and carried out it using motion capture to produce a digital likeness. Within the suit, Levine claims that the organization incorporated an element in the overall game that gave gamers the chance to make use of his avatar making it sing, dance and perform other tunes by other artists he didn't approve. He also alleges that the overall game incorporated an element that permitted customers to possess Levine's avatar carrying out other tunes in voices not their own. STORY: 'The Voice': 10 Behind the curtain Shockers Based on the suit, Activision had searched for permission using their company musical artists for broadened use and compensated them a greater fee than Levine received. In Feb, an appeals court permitted Without Doubt to proceed using its own suit against Activision, knocking the overall game writer's free speech defense. Activision couldn't be arrived at for comment. The Voice Adam Levine

Great Movie Apes: Dunston From Dunston Checks In

Rumor has it that this week the apes will rise. So in honor of our primate cousins and their varied achievements on film, Movieline will honor one great movie ape/monkey/chimp each day who embodies an admirable quality found in monkeykind. Today we’re commemorating an orangutan trained as a jewel thief who butts heads with Jason Alexander, Faye Dunaway, Paul Reubens, and Rupert Everett. He is Dunston of Dunston Checks In, and he’ll coax you into adoration — using his bare hands. Name: Dunston (as played by Sam) Film: Dunston Checks In Great Ape Quality: Deception, shiatsu Yes, Rotten Tomatoes’s rating for Dunston Checks In stands at a rough 7 percent, but Dunston outperforms his Tony- and Oscar-winning costars in this 1996 dud. Not only is he a heist-savvy ape with great comic timing, but he’s also a fabulous masseuse. He’s so great, in fact, that an unsuspecting client mistakes him for a human massage therapist. Naughty, Dunston! Naughty!

Netflix eyes U.S. privileges to 'Borgia'

TAULL, The country -- U.S. home theatre giant Netflix is within discussions to get U.S. privileges towards the 12-seg TV series "Borgia," show-run by Tom Fontana ("Oz," "The Philanthropist"). "Borgia" world sales are addressed by Jan Mojto's Munich-based Beta Film.Based on articles online of France's Canal Plus, a vital "Borgia" financer, deal's value would go to "into the millionsInch U.S. dollars.Netflix can also be settling the broadcast of "Borgia" on U.S. pay TV, the content added. A groundbreaking high-finish historic series for Europe, the Euros25 million ($35 million) "Borgia" is created by Lagardere Ing.'s Atlantique Prods. in France and co-created by Eos 550d, a part of Jan Mojto's German colossus Beta Film, in addition to Prague's Etic. With four episodes helmed by Oliver Hirschbiegel ("The UndoingInch), "Borgia" was commissioned and co-produced by Gallic paybox Canal Plus, that will broadcast "Borgia" in October.John Doman ("The Wire") as Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander Mire, Brit actor Marc Ryder as boy Cesare and 18-year-old Isolda Dychauk as daughter Lucrezia.The Netflix pact contributes to around 45 territory sales deals for "Borgia," that was among the greatest-profile choices finally fall's Mipcom TV mart. Included in this are certification contracts with Italy's Sky Italia, Germany's ZDF and Cinemax Latin America.The very first two instances of "Borgia" have broadcast on Sky Italia to boffo 30%-plus market shares.An adversary production, Neil Jordan's Jeremy Irons starrer "The Borgias," broadcast on Showtime from April. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Hollywood Studios Win Injunction Against Zediva

A federal judge has granted the MPAA a preliminary injunction against Zediva, a service that touts itself as a DVD rental service but the movie industry saw as being engaged in illegal online streaming.Zediva quickly became popular earlier this year by cutting through the kind of red tape that has prevents outlets like Netflix and Amazon from offering newer films.The company rents its users a DVD player and a DVD, and customers use their computers like remote controls, playing a movie from afarThe business of Zediva depends on a controversial interpretation of copyright law. Instead of getting explicit licenses from Hollywood studios to offer movie streaming to the public, the company believes it is merely "renting" DVDs for private exhibition.In April, the movie industry sued and challenged this interpretation, believing that Zediva was offering an unauthorized public video-on-demand service.On Monday, California federal judge John F. Walter granted the MPAA a preliminary injunction and just as importantly, has sided with the MPAA on the public vs. private debate. The judge cites case law and old reports by the House of Representatives at the time of the adoption of relevant copyright statutes to come to his conclusion that Zediva transmits publicly instead of renting privately.The judge concludes, "In this case, Defendants are violating Plaintiffs' exclusive right to publicly perform their Copyrighted Works by transmitting those Copyrighted Works to the public over the internet, without a license or Plaintiffs' permission, through the use of Defendants' Zediva service." The parties now have a week to agree on an injunction that will be consistent with the judge's order before the case continues.The MPAA is cheering the development of having gotten the judge to accept its interpretations of copyright law."Judge Walter's decision is a great victory for the more than two million American men and women whose livelihoods depend on a thriving film and television industry," saysDan Robbins, senior vp and associate general counsel for the MPAA in a statement.Meanwhile, Zediva says it intends to continue fighting."Today's ruling represents a setback for the hundreds of thousands of consumers looking for an alternative to Hollywood-controlled online movie services," says Zediva a statement. "Zediva intends to appeal, and will keep fighting for consumers' right to watch a DVD they've rented, whether that rental is at the corner store or by mail or over the Internet." The Hollywood Reporter