Court snubs Taiwanese designer

    Taiwanese seem unimpressed that Jason Wu has designed two inaugural* gowns for U.S. first lady Michelle Obama.

    Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Court ruled on Monday that Wu’s new label “Miss Wu” could not be registered as a brand because it was not distinctive enough.

    Wu is one of only several dozen Chinese surnames, and the court upheld a government trademark agency decision that “Miss Wu” was too generic. Wu claimed the label conjured the hoot of an owl, depicted on its logo.

    Bieber rules Twitter

    Justin Bieber with his fans known as Beliebers became the king of Twitter on Tuesday, topping fellow pop star Lady Gaga as the user with the most followers.

    Data from TwitterCounter.com showed that the 18-year-old Canadian singer jumped into the lead with 33.33 million followers, topping Lady Gaga’s 33.32 million and ending her two-and-a-half year rule of the microblogging site.

    ‘Fruitvale,’ ‘Blood Brothers’ win Sundance

    Drama “Fruitvale” and documentary “Blood Brothers” won the top awards at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, giving them a big boost to reach independent movie audiences this year.

    “Fruitvale,” starring Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Jordan and directed by 26-year-old, first-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler, picked up the U.S. drama jury and audience awards for its “moral and social urgency.”

    The film is based on the true story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was killed by police in Oakland, California, on New Year’s Eve in 2008 and whose death sparked riots against police brutality.

    ‘Argo’ wins top honor at PGA

    The Iran hostage-crisis thriller “Argo” has taken the top honor at the Producers Guild Awards.

    Ben Affleck and Grant Heslov received the award on Saturday handed out at the Beverly Hilton Hotel by the Producers Guild of America, as “Argo” beat out nine other films, including the Civil War saga “Lincoln,” the musical “Les Miserables” and the Osama bin Laden thriller “Zero Dark Thirty.”

    The big winner often goes on to claim the best-picture honor at the Academy Awards, which will be on Feb. 24. (SD-Agencies)