Evan and Gregg Spiridellis have been making political cartoons since the inception of their of JibJab Media, but their newest short set to the tune of Woody Guthrie's classic song, "This Land Is Your Land" has garnered them worldwide fame and legal troubles. The film, which has President George W. Bush and his opponent Senator John Kerry exchanging insults, has spurred legal action against JibJab from Ludlow Music, who owns the copyright to Guthrie's tune.

Montreal-based Toon Boom Animation Inc. has opened an office in London to provide support and training services to European customers, as well as it customers based in the Middle East and Africa. Piers Godden is the main contact and may be reached at +44 7843 679095.

As part of DreamWorks plans to go public with its animation unit, the company had to open its financial books to the public for the first time.

It was disclosed that Jeffrey Katzenberg did not receive any compensation from the studio in 2003. Yet, he will receive stock options worth an estimated $20.5 million when IPO goes forth.

DreamWorks' coo Ann Daly earned $1.5 million and 30,000 stock options in 2003. General counsel Katherine Kendrick took home $550,000 plus 25,000 shares and cfo Kristina Leslie landed $300,000 plus 10,000 options.

Cecropia Inc., a Boston-based game developer, has formed a new animation production studio in Orlando, Florida, that will focus on creating the quality artwork and animation for the company's new interactive game. Cecropia has recruited industry veterans in the region including Walt Disney Feature Animation alumni.

DreamWorks Llc and its animation division, DreamWorks Animation Inc., announced that DreamWorks Animation, Inc. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. are serving as joint book-running managers of the offering.

The National Center of Animation and Computer Games will open on July 27, 2004 at East China Normal University in the city, reports SHANGHAI DAILY. The Cultural Research Center of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Shanghai Broadband Television Corp. invested 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) in the center to encourage more domestic production.

"As the birthplace of the Chinese film and cartoon industry, Shanghai won the right to have the center over cities like Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu," said Tong Zuguang, vp of East China Normal.

FUNimation Productions, Ltd., one of the leading independent home video entertainment and brand management companies in the U.S., has created Our Time Family Entertainment, a new division developed to provide high quality entertainment properties to the burgeoning preschool and children's market.

Marvel Enterprises has sued the Walt Disney Co. and ABC Family (formerly Fox Family) for at least $16 million, which it claims it is owed on the cartoons it licensed to Fox Family, which Disney acquired in 2001, reports VARIETY. As part of the suit filed July 15, 2004 in L.A. Superior Court, Marvel argues that Disney improperly accounted for profits on animated series THE INCREDIBLE HULK, X-MEN AND SPIDER-MAN and failed to promote the shows. In the complaint, Disney claims the toons lose money, but will not provide proper accounting.

Pepper Films has settled into its new space in Santa Monica, California. Founded by animation director Jean Perramon, technical director/compositor Nick Bates and producer Christina Cox in 2002, Pepper Films provides animation and CG production.

Philip Anschutz's Walden Media has left Disney for Fox, reports VARIETY. The AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS producer will team with Fox on five features, including Kate DiCamillo's BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE (due for release January 2005); Katherine Paterson's BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA; Lois Lowry's THE GIVER; Wendy Orr's NIM'S ISLAND; and Adam Mortimer's as-yet-unpublished comicbook proposal BIBLIONAUTS. Unlike the past Disney deal, the Fox agreement is neither exclusive nor constrained by time limits.