Boxwish Blog
Hitler's globe sparks Valkyrie copyright dispute
What does Tom Cruise have to do to catch a break? The toothy star has been behaving himself so well recently (he’s refrained jumping on any sofas), but his much talked about return to meaty drama in Valkyrie, the story of German Army Officers conspiring to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944 has suffered another setback. It’s the latest in a long line of problems for the Bryan Singer World War II film which has been plagued with production problems (German authorities refused permission to film in Germany as Cruise’s Scientology beliefs are deemed a cult there) but is definitely the oddest – a prop of Hitler’s globe has been reproduced without permission from the globe’s copyright owner. See – told you it was odd.
Robert Pritikin, an advertising executive from San Francisco owns the infamous globe formerly belonging to the Fuehrer, stumping up $100,000 for the privilege back in 2007. An avid art collector, Pritikin also owns other Hitler artefacts and went so far as to have the globe’s likeness copyrighted in an (unsuccessful) bid to prevent people copying it. Investigators Paul Barresi and Dan Hanks are looking into the case with Barresi commenting: “Pritikin believes the globe should be used as a teaching tool so the lessons of Hitler’s nightmare can keep history from repeating itself.” Hanks adds: “Tom Cruise’s use of the globe’s likeness without our client’s permission was likely just an oversight. We’re confident this will all be quickly resolved out of court.”
One suggested way to diffuse the potential legal problems is that Cruise buy the globe from Pritikin. “I think it would be a wonderful gesture of good will on Tom Cruise’s part to purchase the globe along with all of the other Hitler artefacts owned by Mr. Pritikin and donate them to the Wiesenthal Center,” said Barresi and Hanks agreed: “It would be a hell of a way for Tom Cruise to save the day for United Artists and be a real-life hero.”
A real-life hero for buying a globe- really? I know these are tough times we live in but where’s the romance?
[via The New York Post]
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Does anyone else think buying Hitler's stuff's all a bit creepy? why would you want to collect it in the first place?
Posted by -uncle-buck- on 06 January 2009 at 02.16PM