Hollywood Docket: Settlement Over Unreleased Orson Welles 'Masterpiece'

Law buzz this morning:

• The fate of next year's Golden Globes telecast will likely be in the hands of a federal judge. Late last year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sued the Globes' producers, including Dick Clark Prods. Last week, the parties delivered a joint report to the court that discusses disagreements, including the proposed schedule and scope of discovery, pleadings, and a possible trial date.  Dick Clark Prods argues for a timetable that would result in a trial in December, and the HFPA believes a trial could happen no sooner than March 2012. Regardless, the pace of litigation isn't satisfactory to HFPA, which says that barring a settlement, it "anticipates that it may need to seek preliminary or expedited relief from the Court" to regain control of the awards ceremony. Here's the joint report.

• An unfinished "masterpiece" by Orson Welles, The Other Side of the Wind, may be on the verge of release nearly four decades after it was shot. The film has been entangled in a legal dispute between Jacqueline Boushehri, widow of a relative of the Shah of Iran and one of the film's producers, and Welles's lover, Oja Kodar, a Croatian who starred in and co-wrote the film, over ownership rights. Lawyers involved in the dispute say they are in final negotiations. [Guardian]

• The owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship have filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against live-streaming site Justin.tv. UFC  says it has recently reached settlement with more than 500 businesses who have streamed its productions and is now turning its attention to Justin.tv, which it says "turned a blind eye to the massive online piracy occurring on its website." [MMA Junkie]

• Japan's Supreme Court has ruled that place-shifting local TV programs to overseas viewers over the Internet violates the country's copyright code. The ruling overturned previous judgments by lower courts. [Nikkei]

• Warner Music Group chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. was convicted in a Paris court of insider trading and fined €5m over his conduct as vice-chairman of Vivendi nearly a decade ago when the company went on a media acquisition spree. He also received a 15-month suspended prison sentence. [Guardian]

• Singer K.D. Lang has successfully enforced a California judgment against her ex-manager, Annabel Lapp, in a Canadian court. Lang had sued Lapp for fraudulently handling her finances, was awarded $1.9 million in a default judgment after Lapp decided not to defend himself, and then pursued collection in British Columbia. [WCLB]

• Twitter is being sued by VS Technologies over a patent that allegedly covers the creation of an interactive virtual community that allows people to interact with famous people. [TechCrunch]