Exclusives

Duke's grandson has filed a federal lawsuit in New York, claiming the people who introduced a liqueur called "Duke Ellington XO Cognac" in 2006 never got the proper permission to use Duke's name and signature on their product.

In the suit, filed earlier today, the Ellington estate claims the people behind the booze "once attempted to negotiate with [the estate] ... but no agreement was ever reached between the parties."

Open the floodgates -- the creditors are getting in line for a piece of the action in the Michael Jackson estate case.

Segye Times -- a South Korean newspaper -- won a judgment against Katherine, Joe and Jermaine Jackson, along with the Jackson Record Company, back in 1994. The suit claimed the newspaper paid the family $5.5 million for a series of Jackson family concerts in 1989 that never took place.

A judgment was entered for $4 million. Segye Times now wants $7,865,730.78 -- interest is a bitch!

Merv Griffin's son is pissed and he's gunning for the people who are running his dad's companies, claiming they're squandering his money.

Tony Griffin claims in legal documents filed with the L.A. County Superior Court, the people running Merv's companies -- including Merv Griffin Entertainment and The Griffin Group -- have squandered part of Merv's fortune by engaging in "speculative ventures with funds which belong to the Trust."

The docs claim the estimated value of the Merv's estate was in excess of $50 million, after estate taxes and other debts were paid (the estimated value before these obligations were paid was $136 million). There were reports Merv's fortune at death was more than a billion bucks!

Tony, who turns 50 this year, is entitled to $2 million a year minimum. If the businesses are ever liquidated, he gets 60% after obligations are paid out.

But here's what we are hearing from the inside. Merv Griffin Productions has actually done pretty well, selling programs to both network and cable. And we're told, the value of the estate has been affected by the economy. For example, Merv's 147-foot yacht is up for sale. Its estimated value was $28 million, but now it's going for $11 million and so far, no takers.

Merv's trust has houses -- including an 18th-century manor in Ireland -- and the value has gone down.

Our sources at "American Idol" say the show made Paula Abdul two offers ... and then she just went and quit by tweet.

As we already reported, we're told Paula was pulling in somewhere between $2 and $3 million a year and she wanted more. Our sources say "A.I." made her an offer that she didn't like at all. Paula countered but producers didn't want to pay that much, so they countered with another offer.

Rather than responding to the second offer, Paula shocked everyone by tweeting her goodbye. The weirdest thing ... "A.I." took the tweet seriously and responded with an official sayonara.

We're told Paula made it especially difficult during the negotiations because she changed management twice.

One person at "Idol" called her reaction "an emotional tweet." You don't learn that in law school.

As for what she'll do, we're told producer Nigel Lythgoe has given her a standing offer to be a guest judge on "So You Think You Can Dance." Here's what we're thinking -- he'd kill to make her a regular.

Paula's kinda crazy ... but crazy sells.

The creepiest thing about the 53-year-old guy in this photo isn't the hair -- it's that he's been arrested a second time for allegedly targeting 16-year-old Miley Cyrus.

Mark McLeod -- the same guy who once claimed Miley had been sending him "secret messages" through her TV show -- has been arrested in Georgia on an "attempted stalking" charge.

Back in June, McLeod was warned to stay away from Miley, after a disorderly conduct arrest in which he told cops no one could keep them from "being together." Cops then warned McLeod to keep away from the actress.

But this week, cops say McLeod was spotted hanging around the area where Miley is shooting her new movie -- so they got a warrant and yesterday, they arrested the guy.

We're told McLeod admitted he was trying to get in contact with Miley when he was arrested.

McLeod is currently being held at the Columbia County Detention Center.

As we first reported, Disney got wind of Mark's June arrest -- the one in which he allegedly told cops a slew of crazy stuff about Miley -- and warned cops in L.A. to keep their eyes on him.

Brown's in L.A. for a date with L.A. County Superior Court where he'll be sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service in Virginia, his home state. Rihanna is not expected to show up.

We'll be there live streaming the whole thing.

TMZ has obtained photos of the unwed mom-to-be/model/aspiring actress posing and partying with model Tyson Beckford, actor Jeremy Piven and Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley.

We're told by several sources that until recently, Burke was quite the braggart about her brushes with fame... including the steamy tryst with Law.

Bam Margera has found a more effective way of dealing with his marital problems than going on a four day bender: Marriage counseling and meds.

The "Jackass" star, who was recently hospitalized with "dehydration" after a drinking binge, says he's been trying to work it out with wife Missy -- and she's forced them into couples counseling twice a week.

Bam also tells us Missy "thinks I have a split personality, like Jekyll and Hyde" and he has been taking the antidepressant Lexapro to control his "mood swings."

The new documents in the Michael Jackson estate case show the special administrators of the estate expect to haul in money in the "high eight figures" for merchandising and other Jackson-related stuff.

The docs mention the $5.5 million the special administrators already collected from Dr. Tohme Tohme. In addition, the administrators have collected "millions of dollars of tangible personal property throughout the country, including memorabilia and art."

The docs say the special administrators are deep in negotiations to market all things Jackson.

The docs claim the special administrators have resolved three lawsuits.

New court documents in the Michael Jackson estate case reveal Columbia Pictures scored the footage of Michael Jackson's rehearsals and preparations for his London concerts ... but the studio is paying a hefty price.

Columbia will create a movie from the footage. Under the terms of the deal, the Jackson estate will get 90% of the profits and AEG will get the remaining 10%.

Michael Jackson's lawyers are worried people are making a fortune off of the singer by bootlegging merchandise with his name and they want to put a stop to it immediately.

Michael Jackson's special administrators want the estate to cash in on a song one of his brothers performed at the memorial, but time is of the essence.

In docs filed with the court, lawyers for the estate say they've negotiated a very favorable agreement for the estate with Apple Inc., for the promotion, distribution and sale of the audio and audiovisual recordings of Jermaine Jackson's performance of the song, "Smile" at the memorial service.

They claim there is currently "a heightened demand for such products due to Jermaine Jackson's moving performance during the memorial service, which may diminish over time."

We just got a declaration from Joe Jackson, filed with the court, and Joe makes it clear -- he supported Michael Jackson's decision to make his wife Katherine the guardian of Michael's 3 kids .. and Joe makes it clear he will keep his distance.

Joe says in the declaration: "I have had a close family relationship with these grandchildren since their birth. I do visit the family residence from time to time and will continue to do so, however I will not be involved in raising the children."

Joe continues, "I understand that all decision-making authority regarding the children will rest with Katherine Jackson. Katherine Jackson is a wonderful caretaker and guardian, and has done an excellent job raising our children and other grandchildren."

TMZ has learned the former "Saved by the Bell" dork got paid $2,000 for a 2-night stand-up gig at Listrani's -- a local pizza place-turned-comedy club in Arlington, Virginia.

Besides the paycheck, the pizza joint also forked over enough dough to cover ...

Kelly Rutherford just settled her custody dispute with ex Daniel Giersch -- at least until April 2010.

The "Gossip Girl" matriarch filed for divorce in December 2008. The couple has two children together -- one of whom was born less than two months ago.

Rutherford and Giersch had a heated battle over custody that nearly kept Rutherford from filming scenes for "Gossip Girl."

Settlement documents have been filed with the court. Under the terms, both Kelly and Daniel will temporarily relocate from California to New York while she films "Gossip Girl" -- from July 30 through April 5. She'll live in NYC and he'll live in the Hamptons. Neither party can travel outside of New York or California without the agreement of the other.

The docs say both parents will attend co-parenting counseling sessions.

Turns out Stephenie Meyer, the woman behind the Twilight series, isn't the only person to write about sexy vampires -- 'cause she's being accused of ripping off the storyline for her fourth ultra-successful book by a less famous, less rich author.

A woman named Jordan Scott fired off a cease and desist letter to the publisher of "Breaking Dawn" -- the fourth book in the series -- claiming the Twilight tale contains a "striking and substantial similarity" to Scott's book, "The Nocturne."

In her extremely detailed letter, Scott claims her book was published in 2006 -- two years before "Breaking Dawn" -- and it's no coincidence that many of the scenes are almost identical. Such as...

-- Both books contain a post-wedding sex scene
-- Both books contain a scene about a woman who's sick because she's carrying a child with "evil powers"
-- Both books contain a scene with the death of the main character's wife

And according to Scott, the dialogue in all of these scenes -- and more -- is extremely similar.

But Meyer's rep is calling BS -- telling TMZ, "The claim that 'Breaking Dawn' by Stephenie Meyer somehow infringes on an alleged book by someone named Jordan Scott is completely without merit. Neither Stephenie Meyer nor her representatives had any knowledge of this writer or her supposed book prior to this claim."

So, the million dollar question ...