Tyler Perry used too much of the goodness of Jesus in his movie, "Madea Goes to Jail," at least according to a new federal lawsuit obtained by TMZ.
The suit, filed by the personal representative of deceased gospel singer/songwriter Bertha James, claims Perry lifted an entire verse from a song James wrote in 1950 -- "When I Think of the Goodness of Jesus."
The suit claims Perry pilfered the verse and used it in "Madea" -- specifically, "incorporating the entire Chorus in a monologue delivered by the main character in 'Madea" referencing her deliverance from a jail sentence and leniency for repetitive criminal conduct, in a staged court proceeding presided over by 'Judge Mabeline.'"
Bertha's estate, which is also suing Lionsgate Entertainment, wants unspecified damages for copyright infringement.
The geniuses who own the rights to Albert Einstein are suing a cosmetics company for featuring a model whispering in Albert's ear, "Psst, Professor, I'm brighter than you are."
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem -- which owns the Einstein trademark -- claims Benefit Cosmetics had no right to use the image of the relatively brilliant man.
By the way, Forbes lists Einstein as the fourth highest-earning dead celeb ... pulling in $18 mil every year.
By the way, the book,"Einstein" by Walter Isaacson, is awesome.
Britney Spears has lost it -- and by that, we mean all her touring equipment.
TMZ has learned a bus carrying all off Britney's tour equipment rolled off the road in Parkes, New South Wales in Australia.
According to police there, it happened around 4:30 PM during a bad storm. The winds became too strong and blew the truck off the road, rolling it over.
Police say the driver was taken to the hospital, but the equipment was undamaged.
So Britney has all the tools to lip sync tonight at the Rod Laver Arena tonight.
Rihanna doesn't like being yelled at by her neighbors, according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ.
The owner of the L.A. house Rihanna was renting believes she would have bought his house outright but his neighbor was such a jerk ... she bailed on the deal.
The neighbor had actually sued Rihanna and her landlord, Stephan Yacobian, back in June, claiming the singer and her friends had a bad habit of parking their cars on his property. Rihanna eventually got so fed up with his complaints ... she moved.
Now, Yacobian is going after the neighbor -- claiming he had no right to yell at Rihanna and her friend over parking, because the two property owners had a specific agreement that RiRi could park in the neighbor's driveway.
Yacobian claims the neighbor's "harassing behavior" caused the deal to go south.
Yacobian wants the neighbor to fork over the profits he would have made from the sale.
Jermaine Jackson came out swinging at an event at the Magic Johnson theater in L.A. yesterday, claiming the 1993 molestation accusations against his brother were false ... and the suicide of the accuser's dad proves it.
Jermaine -- who spoke at a Michael Jackson charity event -- said the accuser's dad could not live with a guilty conscience and that's why he killed himself. Jermaine also latched onto Internet rumors that the accuser himself said Jackson didn't touch him.
Michael Jackson settled the '93 case by anteing up $20 million.
FYI -- the MJ stuff happens around 2:15 into the clip.
The homeless problem at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro reached fever pitch yesterday after a scruffy-looking vagabond wandered around aimlessly, muttering to himself about a message in a bottle.
Tila Tequila is willing to forgive the XXX website that posted her allegedly stolen tape -- as long as the price is right.
Tequila's lawyer just fired off a cease and desist letter to 4tube.com -- the porn site that's posting footage of Tila getting up close and personal with a naked man. In the letter, obtained by TMZ, Tila's lawyer claims Tequila is willing to settle her case as long as the site removes the video ... and coughs up $280,000.
Tila claims the video clip was snatched off a laptop she reported stolen about two years ago -- and was never intended for public viewing.
According to the letter, the porn site has 2 weeks to respond -- or Tila proceeds full speed ahead.
All you hungry dudes looking to tackle a different kind of bird this Thanksgiving, meet the Los Angeles Temptations -- the Lingerie Bowl football team that's really something to be thankful for.
The star of the "Nailin' Paylin" porno considers her new hookup Rob Kardashian the "perfect little boy for a cougar" -- but that don't mean the two are gonna get monogamous any time soon.
Yesterday at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, porn star Lisa Ann said she hasn't even met the Kardashian clan yet, because "people don't really bring porn stars around their family" -- and said marriage with the 22-year-old would "never happen."
If a porn star and a Kardashian can't find love ... then who can??
Josh Duhamel took time out from dispelling breakup rumors shooting his latest film in NY on Tuesday, to play a little game of stripper-free two hand touch.
The 37-year-old barely broke a sweat running around throwing and catching the ball like a pro.
Shaquille O'Neal gets the 2009 Thanksgiving award for quietly paying for the funeral of a little girl he never met.
Five-year-old Shaniya Davis was raped and murdered earlier this month. The alleged killer is behind bars, as is Shaniya's mother, who is charged with human trafficking and child abuse involving prostitution.
Shaq was so touched by the story he's footing the funeral bill -- estimated at $4,500.
The Cleveland Cavalier star told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Being a law enforcement guy that investigates crime against children, I wanted to be able to help in some way."
More than 2,000 people attended Shaniya's funeral last Sunday in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Dr. Conrad Murray's baby mama -- not the one he had child support issues with in Las Vegas, one of the other ones -- went shopping on ritzy Robertson Blvd. yesterday. We don't know who's paying the tab.
Law enforcement has told TMZ Murray had shipments of Propofol delivered to Nicole Alvarez's apartment in Santa Monica. Murray was living with Alvarez while he was "treating" Michael Jackson.
Alvarez birthed Murray's seventh child, Che Giovanni Murray, on March 2 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Britney Spears has lost it -- and by that, we mean all her touring equipment. 
Rihanna doesn't like being yelled at by her neighbors, according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ.
