US man accused of Kung Fu Panda fraud

A Massachusetts man has been accused of fraud and perjury by prosecutors for allegedly back-dating drawings that he used as evidence to sue DreamWorks.

Jayme Gordon, 51, took out a lawsuit in 2011 against the company behind the Kung Fu Panda films, claiming he had invented the title character.

Prosecutors say Mr Gordon created his scheme after seeing a trailer for the first film in the series in 2008. His lawyer, Robert Griffin, said his client ‘maintains his innocence’.

Authorities allege Mr Gordon’s idea was to make it look like the film was based on sketches he had made for a story he had already written, titled Panda Power.

He filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against DreamWorks and suggested a settlement of $12m (£8m), which the company rejected.

When DreamWorks produced this evidence to Mr Gordon, he agreed to dismiss the legal action that had already cost the company $3m (£2m) to defend.

Mr Gordon is charged with four counts of wire fraud and three counts of perjury. If convicted of the most serious charges, he could face up to 20 years in jail.

2016 Golden Globe Awards

The Revenant took home the award for Best Motion Picture, Drama while The Martian won the award for Best Motion Picture, Comedy, at the 2016 Golden Globe Awards last week.

“I cannot say how surprised I am and how proud I am to have survived this film with all these fellows,” the movie’s director, Alejandro Iñárritu said in his award acceptance speech. The movie’s win came just minutes after the film’s star Leonardo DiCaprio won the award for Best Actor in a Drama Movie.

In the comedy category The Martian beat out The Big Short, Joy, Spy and Trainwreck to win the award. Director Ridley Scott spoke on behalf of the film and during his/her acceptance speech he thanked the film’s star Matt Damon for bringing his “special brand of humour and grace” to the movie.

Beyonce returns to Super Bowl

Beyonce is returning to the Super Bowl halftime show. The singer will perform at the February 7 (Monday, February 8 AEDT) show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, sponsor Pepsi confirmed.

She will join British band Coldplay on stage during their headline Halftime Show performance.

Katy Perry, who performed at last year’s Super Bowl, had the most-watched halftime show in history with 118 million viewers. Other past halftime headliners include Prince, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and the Rolling Stones.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 16th, 2015