DUELING 007S; SONY STIRRED, BUT NOT SHAKEN OVER MGM'S BOND SUIT.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer officially declared war Monday against Sony Corp., firing the first legal shots against its rival studio over plans to shoot a series of competing James Bond movies. MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. , claiming it holds the exclusive rights to make films about the dapper Dapper lawyer’s clerk; swindled into believing himself perfect gambler. [Br. Lit.: The Alchemist] See : Dupery British secret agent, filed suit in a Los Angeles federal court against Sony, studio chief John Calley and Kevin McClory, who will co-produce the Bond films with Sony. Danjaq LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control , MGM's producing partner on 18 of the Bond movies, joined MGM's suit, which seeks to block production and distribution of Bond films by Sony. The move had been expected. Sony provoked MGM's anger last month when it announced unexpectedly that it would make a series of Bond movies with McClory, who produced ``Thunderball'' in 1965 and ``Never Say Never Again'' in 1983. At the time, MGM chief Frank Mancuso hinted MGM would sue and called McClory's claim to a Bond franchise ``delusional.'' Sony said the movies will be based on original works by McClory, who collaborated with the late Ian Fleming on a screenplay that Fleming eventually turned into the novel ``Thunderball.'' McClory won the right to make ``Never Say Never Again,'' starring Sean Connery and released by Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) ., after a legal battle with trustees of Fleming's estate. MGM, which went public last week with a $180 million stock offering, asked for unspecified damages for copyright infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition, misappropriation misappropriation n. the intentional, illegal use of the property or funds of another person for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, particularly by a public official, a trustee of a trust, an executor or administrator of a dead person's estate, or by any of trade secrets and abetting a·bet tr.v. a·bet·ted, a·bet·ting, a·bets 1. To approve, encourage, and support (an action or a plan of action); urge and help on. 2. breach of fiduciary duty. The suit contends Calley, a former MGM executive, took confidential information when he left for Sony. MGM will release its 18th Bond movie, ``Tomorrow Never Dies'' with Pierce Brosnan, on Dec. 19, while Sony hopes to have its first Bond movie ready in 1999 although it has yet to select an actor to play the lead. The Bond franchise is by far MGM's most valuable property and its last Bond movie, ``Goldeneye goldeneye or whistler Either of two species of small, yellow-eyed diving ducks that produce a whistling sound with their rapidly beating wings. The common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) breeds throughout the Northern Hemisphere; Barrow's goldeneye (B. ,'' hit $350 million in worldwide box office revenues. CAPTION(S): Photo, photo illustration Photo: (color) Pierce Brosnan will star in MGM's 18th Bond film due out next month. Photo illustration: no caption (Bond character with face obscured by question mark) |
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