Gaming Lawyers Ready for a Hot New Fight with Salvo

Eldridge and Penske Media respond after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association accuses the new owners of cheating to gain access to award show broadcasts.

Golden Globes Penske Media is suing the Golden Globes Foundation, the latest escalation in a legal battle over ownership of the awards show.

The lawsuit represents another front in the fight stemming from the Golden Globes' messy divorce from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of non-American journalists who founded the awards show in 1943. Dick Clark Productions — a major producer of live television entertainment programming, which bought similar ownership to The Hollywood Reporter — and Eldridge Eldridge, which bought the Golden Society. The purchase is in court, with the HFPA alleging that Penske Media and Eldridge fraudulently obtained the show as part of a larger scheme to monopolize the awards market.

Penske Media was sued by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association over the Golden Globes

The Golden Globe Awards nominated for the first Live Variety Special Emmy since 2020

Now the Golden Globe Foundation is facing a lawsuit over the continued use of the show's name. It is seeking a court order that, if granted, would bar the nonprofit from continuing, plus unspecified damages.

Under an agreement in 2022, the Golden Globe Foundation was created to allow the HFPA to continue its charitable activities. The lawsuit alleges that the group's use of the name extends beyond non-profit work to include selling merchandise, hosting branded events and engaging in other commercial activities.

Last year, the Golden Globes LLC and Eldridge filed a cease-and-desist suit, which it says has stopped the foundation, asking it to stop identifying with the brand. After the nonprofit selected Rafi Bogoosian as its board chairman earlier this year, licensing negotiations broke down, according to the lawsuit. Eldridge says that Boghossian directed the termination of former CEO Gregory Goukner and the lawyer who handled the deal negotiations, "indicating GGF's intent to continue using the Golden Globes logo without permission."

The lawsuit adds that the nonprofit's extensive use of the Golden Globe name is part of a "broader pattern of coordination between GGF and the HFPA against the plaintiff and its affiliates." It refers to the HFPA's settlement talks with the Golden Globe Foundation, which was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed against PMC earlier this year. Under the proposed agreement, the nonprofit would transfer charitable funds to the HFPA.

"The HFPA's inclusion of GGF as a defendant was a pretext designed to facilitate this transfer, and the settlement is intended to direct charitable funds to fund the HFPA lawsuit and other private litigation against the plaintiff," the complaint, filed Sept. 30 in California federal court, states. "This coordination between GGF and the HFPA further demonstrates that GGF's continued use of the Golden Globe mark is not done in good faith, but as part of a concerted effort to trade on the goodwill of the plaintiff's mark while aligning itself with the plaintiff's mark. HFPA against the plaintiff's interests."

HFPA, Eldrige and PMC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The HFPA has accused Penske Media of using its control over Hollywood deals to incite the group to make it vulnerable to takeovers. The awards show was sold out following a widespread industry boycott that saw major Hollywood actors refuse to broadcast or attend the 2022 Golden Globes.