PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 23, 2010
March 1, 2010 ruling prohibiting Rooks and four co-defendants from holding themselves out to be Allied Artists was ignored by Rooks prompting federal court to hold Rooks in contempt.
Glendale, CA – On March 1, 2010, United States District Judge Gary A. Feess found that Robert N. Rooks, a defendant in a trademark infringement action brought by Allied Artists International, had in fact infringed the Allied Artists trademarks. Rooks, his co-defendants and several imposter corporations created by Rooks, were each permanently enjoined from any further use of the Allied Artists’ name.
On September 23, 2010, Judge Feess held Rooks in contempt, finding that he violated the permanent injunction in the months following its entry. As a sanction, Rooks was ordered to describe to the court, under oath, all efforts undertaken to comply with the court’s March 1, 2010 order no later than October 1, 2010, to submit documentary proof of his compliance no later than October 10, 2010, and to pay Allied Artists International’s attorneys’ fees associated with having been forced to apply for the contempt sanctions against Rooks.
In December of 2008, Allied Artists International, the parent of Allied Artists Pictures, Allied Artists Music Group and Allied Artists Associated Entertainment Ventures, filed a fifty million dollar trademark infringement suit against Rooks, two infringing corporations and four co-defendants. The action, case number CV08-08116-GAF(RZx), stemmed from Rooks’ having formed California and Nevada entities both named, “Allied Artists Pictures Corporation,” and launching counterfeit “Allied Artists” websites. Rooks and his co-defendants were charged with creating the counterfeit websites and infringing on the Allied Artists trademark, in a fraudulent scheme to artificially elevate the stock price of their fledgling International Synergy Holding Company, Ltd, which is publicly traded on the Frankfurt Exchange under trading symbol IBS.F. Allied Artists alleged that the quintet falsely claimed in an August 8, 2008 press release that International Synergy had “acquired Allied Artists Pictures Corporation,” in a scheme to defraud investors who believed they were investing in the real Allied Artists.
The history of Allied Artists is long, varied and legendary. Throughout the years, the Allied Artists brand has been associated with such classic motion pictures as “Papillon,” starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, “Cabaret,” with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, “Tickle Me” starring Elvis Presley, and “The Man Who Would be King,” starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer, to name but a few.
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Contact: Jerry Sifuentes, Office of Press Relations at (626) 330-0600 x8150 from Los Angeles, (646) 350-0009 x8150 from New York or via Email at: pressrelations@alliedartists.net.