Tom Cruise Is in a World of Trouble

Tom Cruise might seem to have the whole world in his hands these days, but that's not necessarily a good thing.

The New York Post reports that a San Francisco advertising executive is angry that Cruise used a replica of Hitler's globe in his new Nazi-fighting epic Valkyrie—because the ad exec owns the copyright on the globe's image.

Robert Pritikin—author of the jingle "Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco Treat"—paid $100,000 in 2007 for the original globe, which was replicated and featured in Valkyrie. (The globe was used by the Führer in his Bavarian Alps compound to plot U-boat  attacks.)  Pritikin had copyrighted the globe's likeness to prevent it from being used in neo-Nazi propaganda. He was understandably a little surprised to see the item featured prominently in the flick, and now he's considering legal action.

"Pritikin believes the globe should be used as a teaching tool so the lessons of Hitler's nightmare can keep history from repeating itself," investigator Paul Barresi, who was hired by Pritikin to look into the matter, says.

Dan Hanks, who was also retained by the ad exec to investigate the copying of the globe, adds that 46-year-old Cruise's breach of copyright was "likely just an oversight. We're confident this will all be quickly resolved out of court."

One of the possible solutions: That Cruise might buy the globe, which was recently put up for sale by Pritikin, and donate it to a museum. "I think it would be a wonderful gesture of good will on Tom Cruise's part to purchase the globe along with all of the other Hitler artifacts owned by Mr. Pritikin and donate them to the [Simon] Wiesenthal Center," Barresi suggests.

Talk about a struggle for global rule. At least this one will probably end less violently than they usually do.