Warren Beatty Sued Over Dick Tracy

Actor Warren Beatty is being sued by Tribune Media Services over the film and television rights to the character of Dick Tracy, Reuters is reporting. The Academy-award winning actor directed and starred in a hit 1990 movie named after and based on the comic strip character. Tracy was originally created by cartoonist Chester Gould in 1931.
According to court papers, Beatty bought the film and TV rights to the character in 1985 and he claims to retain them. However, Tribune Media Services is arguing that the rights have reverted to them because Beatty has "made no productive use" of them for over a decade.
Beatty and Tribune have been battling over Dick Tracy for several years and this is not the first suit to be filed over the film and TV rights. According to the BBC, Beatty began legal action in 2005 in which he claimed to have given the rights to Disney to produce the 1990 Dick Tracy film. Disney subsequently returned them to him. He was also arguing that Tribune attempted to recover the rights illegally.
In November 2008 Beatty again filed a lawsuit against Tribune claiming that work he was doing on a television special connected with Dick Tracy entitled him to retain the rights. In the current lawsuit Tribune is said to be arguing that Beatty is producing the special only so that he can keep control of the rights.
Tribune Media Services is a unit of the bankrupt newspaper published Tribune Company and apparently believes that it could reap a large financial reward from the rights to Dick Tracy.