The iconic martial artist Bruce Lee's estate is gearing to stop the icon's references from the upcoming Hong Kong movie "Ip Man 3."
Pegasus Motion Pictures said that "Ip Man 3," which is currently in production, features a CGI of young Bruce Lee as a real-life student of Ip Man played by Donnie Yen.
However, Bruce Lee Enterprises (BLE), LLC, claims ownership of all intellectual property rights pertaining to the late icon, including the name, image and likeness, among others.
Kris Storti, COO and General Counsel of BLE, stated that the whole Bruce Lee camp is "justifiably shocked" upon learning about Pegasus's plan to include the late icon's persona in "Ip Man 3." The move, Storti insists, is unauthorized.
Storti further said: "To state it in no uncertain terms, BLE intends to seek all remedies available to it to stop Pegasus from including the computer-generated version of Bruce Lee in 'Ip Man 3.'"
On Pegasus camp, "Ip Man 3" producers claim to have the late icon's brother Robert Lee working for them as a film consultant on anything pertaining to Bruce Lee. Pegasus asserts that Robert Lee owns the Bruce Lee intellectual property rights.
BLE, on the other hand, contends Pegasus's claim, stating that Robert Lee does not own or control any intellectual property rights associated with Bruce Lee, including, without limitation, any rights to Bruce Lee's name, likeness and image.
"Robert Lee does not represent BLE, nor is he authorized to represent any intellectual property rights in connection with Bruce Lee in any way," said BLE.
Raymond Wong, "Ip Man 3" producer and chairman of Pegasus, said that the issue is now being handled by the company's lawyers and the company is set to make a press release soon.
Along with Donnie Yen who is playing the main character, "Ip Man 3" also stars Mike Tyson to play the villain. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2016.