The Weinstein Company has lost the appeal to use the title "The Butler."
The company appealed to the Title Registration Bureau (TRB) on July 19 in a last bid to use the title. The TRB said that it could not use the title because it had already been owned by Warner Bros. However the company can now use the title "Lee Daniel's The Butler." TWC had previously registered the latter title as an alternative decision in order to solve possible issues.
The company attempted to sway the TRB by using Reverend Jesse Jackson and NAACP president and CEO Ben Jealous and Roy Innis, chairman of the congress of racial equality in their appeal. The three said in a statement, "We are all watching and waiting for the results of today's arbitration and hoping that Warner Bros. and the MPAA make the right decision on this important movie about civil rights."
The title fight began on July 2 when Warner Bros filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Company over the title to the upcoming film "The Butler." WB won because they owned the rights from a 1916 short film "The Butler. TWC was then forced to stop promoting the movie under the title "The Butler" because it would face fines of $25,000 a day. TWC immediately took down their facebook and website pages but continued to promote the trailers and posters.
"The Butler" is posed as a major awards film that Oscar prognosticators are already predicting will obtain a number of nominations. The film stars Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, David Oyelowo, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Fonda, Terrence Howard, Alan Rickman, John Cusack, Liev Schreiber, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Melissa Leo and opens on August 16.