Category Archives: Settlements

Happy Day for Former Sitcom Cast

TV turnaround

Queue the jukebox: the ol’ gang just got an increase in allowance.

Happy Days actors Anson Williams, Don Most, Marion Ross, Erin Moran, and the estate of the late Tom Bosley have settled with CBS and Paramount over a contract dispute from April, 2011. Potsie and co. believed they had not received proper royalties for the sales of Happy Days merchandising that used their images, including comic books, T-shirts, and trading cards. (Yes, nearly three decades after Happy Days aired its last episode, they still make comic books and trading cards with the characters.) The actors’ contracts included clauses that gave 5% of proceeds from any merchandise holding their image and 2.5% if they’re shown as a group, but they claim that CBS and Paramount never included merchandise figures in revenue statements provided to the actors. CBS and Paramount’s counterclaim was that, under a separate agreement with the Screen Actors Guild, the companies were allowed to use images from the show to promote sales of DVDs without paying the actors any extra royalties.

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Apple Turnover: iPad Settlement Goes for $60 Million in China

iPad

Apple has agreed to pay a $60 million to a Chinese company to settle a lawsuit over the iPad trademark. Proview Technology will receive a small fraction of their original asking price of $400 million, which might help them recover from the fringe of insolvency. Certainly not a bad pay day. Although the technological terror that is Apple Inc. has plenty of money to throw around, I hope somebody lost their job for over-looking the fact that they trademarked the word “iPad” in every country except the largest one in the world. More details and analysis after the jump.

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Dr. Drew Accepted GlaxoSmithKline’s Illegal Marketing Money

Tough pill to swallow

Sometimes legal settlements reveal more than just boring dollar amounts. Last week, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to the illegal marketing of the prescription antidepressant Wellbutrin and pay $3 billion in criminal and civil fines. This settlement followed a 9-year investigation into the company’s marketing practices by the federal government. In the process, documents associated with the case revealed that TV physician Dr. Drew was among the “consultants” paid to do this illegal advertising. So what did Glaxo do, and why was it so bad? And why would a trusted name in science forsake his neutral and beneficial advice in the name of a pharmaceutical company’s profits (hint: it has to do with money)? Find out after the break.

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Red Bull Gives You Spam

Fly away

As a society, we’ve become pretty much immune to spam emails, since, you know, it’s no longer the 90s and no one believes that an email promising to enlarge your penis size is actually legit. Advancements in technology now allow you to sidestep those cringeworthy emails and store them in the vast wasteland known as your spam folder. Unfortunately, spammers are always in their R&D departments trying to figure out new ways to inform you of che4p v|ag4ra, in this case by moving on to text messages. In a recent class action lawsuit filed in Illinois, the energy drink Red Bull has had its wings clipped for sending unsolicited text messages. The class action lawsuit claims Red Bull violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits companies from sending unsolicited advertisements to anyone without express prior consent.

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Anthrax Settles With Ex-Singer, Shreds Original Request

Musical mishap

Anthrax members Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, and frequent VH1 panelist Scott Ian found themselves caught in a mosh in 2009 when Dan Nelson sued the group for some inaccurate statements they made after his departure from the band. The band published that an illness had caused the singer to leave and the band to cancel an upcoming concert tour. Nelson pursued a $2.65 million lawsuit to refute Anthrax’s “intentional defamation” and collect lost royalties. “I was never seriously ill or sick at all, as reported in Anthrax’s 7/17/09 press release,” said Nelson. “This statement misled fans, friends, and family members into believing that I was seriously ill when I was not.” To settle the suit, Nelson was offered a confidential, yet “fairly small”, monetary amount and was given co-writing credit on 11 of the 14 songs on the band’s 2011 release Worship Music.