Robert Pritikin, the multimillionaire composer of the "Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat" jingle (doesn't that take me back) is considering a lawsuit against Tom Cruise for featuring the likeness of a famous globe that Hitler used to plan U-boat attacks in his movie Valkyrie. Pritikin bought the original globe in 2007 and had its likeness copyrighted "to keep it from being used in propaganda by sick neo-Nazi groups," in the words of the New York Post.
I confess I was unaware such things could be copyrighted, but now that I have lost my innocence, I'd recommend that next time Pritikin copyright Hitler's likeness. Not only would it strike deeper against neo-Nazi propaganda, it would create many, many more opportunities for attempted legal-cinematic shakedowns.
(via Vulture)
photo: The Great Dictator
--Christopher Orr