Streisand, Travolta in Tussauds legal war

JOHN Travolta, Barbra Streisand and even the late Pope John Paul II were today caught up in a £20m legal battle between Madame Tussauds and one of the world's biggest licensed giftmakers.

News of the High Court action will come as a serious embarrassment to the Tussauds Group just as it is being bought by Dubai investors.

Living Picture, the Switzerland-based toy manufacturer behind the Harry Potter board game and hundreds of other character-based products, claims Madame Tussauds reneged on a licensing deal allowing it to make a host of trinkets based on its waxwork models.

The firm alleges that Madame Tussauds gave it the rights to produce products but pulled the plug on the contract shortly after they went into production.

Tussauds suddenly realised it would run into a storm of protest and probable legal action from the stars if their images were to turn up on candlesticks, cigarette lighters and other knick- knacks around the world, it is alleged.

'It's unusual but quite simple - we say they misled us,' said Clive Zietman, lawyer for the toymaker at Manches Solicitors. Today, Living Picture lodges a claim in the High Court seeking at least £20m in damages, alleging misrepresentation and breach of contract.

Living Picture says its contract was met with huge excitement from its distributors and that it had put several other big projects on hold to focus on the Tussauds deal.

Tussauds said: 'We will vigorously defend any actions taken against us.'