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Howard Stern's cousin Richie made a bee-line to sue the makers of the new "Bee Movie," claiming they ripped off his company's popular catchphrase used to sell their honey-based skin care products. Swat that away!
TMZ has obtained the stinging lawsuit, in which BeeCeuticals of Fort Lauderdale is buzzing mad at Dreamworks and Paramount, saying the "Give Bees a Chance" slogan used in marketing the film was their idea. The suit, filed in federal court by Stern's cousin, bee-lister Richie Gerber, alleges the slogan has been used more than 400 times on Stern's radio show, and was usurped by Jerry Seinfeld's new animated bee flick.
The suit also claims that movie companies approached BeeCeuticals about a promotional offer, but the deal was never struck. "Bee Movie" flies into theaters today.
Dreamworks did not return our call for comment.
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Steven Spielberg and Jerry Seinfeld i also suspected of stealing - a swedish movie. It feels like a dark cinderella storie, says the creator Henrik Wallgren. Henrik Wallgren and Per Umaerus came up with the idea to do a animated movie about bees and theirs contact with humans, and Dreamworks showed an interest of the idea.
They claim that they showed a script and a pilot of their movie Beebylon to Dreamworks in 2002, who turned it down saying it was to childish for the american audience. A year later they and Jerry Seinfeld announce that they were making their own fairly similar movie. In an interview in the swedish tv Seinfeld completely dismisses the similarities between the movies:
"Iâm trying not to laugh too hard because I find it very funnyâ¦. You know anybody who would make something about bees would use the look of the bee, with the stripes, so, yes, there is that similarity."
For some reason the reporter didnât ask him about the fact that Dreamworks were shown Beebylon just a year before starting the promotion of Bee Movie. A coincidence? Now Wallgren and his collegues are planning a lawsuit against Dreamworks.
If Burt's Bees leaves them alone, then why the fuss?
Oh, yeah. Money. I guess Howard's cuz needs a little "nuisance" money to shut up and go away.
Bees. Imagine that. A flaming lawsuit over....bees.
WE DONT EVEN CARE ABOUT HOWARD MUCH LESS HIS FREAKING SURE TO BE LIKE LOWLIFE COUSIN!
BUZZ OFF WITH THE COUSIN BIT.
HOWARD ISNWORTH A BUZZ, HIS NO-NAME COUSIN SURE DONT!
NOT GIT!!!
okay, okay, okay, its these names that are so similar.
i apologize. i thought we were talking about the murderer HOWARD K. STERN.
HOWARD STERN, WE LIKE.
HOWARD K. STERN WE NO LIKE.
i apolozize!
what is this now?
first they sue Jerry's wife for stealing recipes
now they are after jerry for stealing bees
is this a mushroom trip?
I listen to Howard everyday and yes, his cousin's advertisements run ALL the time. I'm sure Howard will bring this up on Monday. It IS pretty shady!
Very thing about this is that I have heard the Bee-ceuticals company advertisement on the Stern channel many many times and when I first saw the Bee-Movie add using it I immediately made the connection back. Those that say the lawsuit is just for money should know that this guy is already doing pretty well for himself. He's had companies purchase by whole foods and based on their success, I'm sure that there was some pretty good money in that sale. Some people are funny because they hear Stern's name mentioned and immediately they think negatively. Most of the time it is the people that haven't ever listened to more than five minutes of his show. "Buzz off...We don't even like Howard". Hmmm. Based on the continually growing number of subsribers and the success of his own privately owned television network, I would go out on a limb and say that he's pretty well liked. This lawsuit is between the movie companies and the Beeceuticals company. It has nothing to do with Howard.
Idle lawsuits are the devils playground...
*click on my name to check out my fashion blog! xo
BOTH him and his wife are in lawsuits for ripping off other people's ideas. AND I BELIEVE IT! I'm not even in the cookbook biz, but I knew when his bee-snatch wife was on all the talk shows a couple weeks ago, I saw that stuff by some other lady before. NOW THIS!!
P.S. His wife was a rude snotbag to the the TV hosts I saw her with, i.e. Regis. Who on earth feels a need to be a snotbag to Regis?!?
TMZ seems to need a resident attorney on this site, - with all the lawsuits going on. Is Star Jones available?
The game never changes......people that can not make money on their own try to take it away from the people that do know how to make money.....
Hey, if his "sneaky" wife can steal from another's cookbook , he can follow along and steal too, hey it's only MONEY.
