Tribune asserts Dick Tracy rights

DOVER, Del. -- Attorneys for the Tribune Co. have asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to declare that the company owns the television and movie rights to comic book character Dick Tracy.

Tribune Media Services, a Tribune subsidiary, has been battling for years with actor Warren Beatty over rights to the cartoon icon, which Tribune says represent tens of millions of dollars in potential income.

Beatty filed suit in California last year in response to Tribune's assertion that he reneged on a 1985 agreement and rights reverted back to Tribune.

Beatty claimed that his plans for a half-hour television special comply with obligations that he follow up the 1990 movie "Dick Tracy" with a television special, within a certain time period.

In a bankruptcy filing Thursday, Tribune claims that Beatty hasn't proved that photography on the TV special has begun.