Suit Pulls Ready to Die off the Shelves

More legal trouble for Diddy & his Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment, this time a jury decided that the title track "Singing in the Morning," violated copyright infringement. The jury awarded Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, $4.2 million in direct and punitive damages. In addition, the Judge ordered immediate stop of sales of Notorious B.I.G.'s and one of Rap all-time albums, Ready to Die.

NY NewDay reports more:

The sales ban imposed by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell affects the album and the title song in any form, including Internet downloads and radio play. It was unclear when or how the ban would take effect.

The jury decided that Bad Boy Entertainment and executive producer Sean "Diddy" Combs illegally used a part of the Ohio Players' 1992 song "Singing In The Morning."

Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, which owned the song rights, have filed hundreds of lawsuits over "sampling," the practice of lifting parts of old music for new recordings. Most were settled out of court.

The companies get most of their income from song royalties by their artists, which include funk legend George Clinton, the Funkadelics and the Ohio Players.

Diddy's new show and Making the Band returns!

NBC announced Sean "Diddy" Combs is cooking up a new reality show, 'CELEBRITY COOKING SHOWDOWN' that will air April 17-21st on NBC. No word on the celebrities, Combs will be teaming up with Ben Silverman ("The Office," "The Biggest Loser," "Date My Mom" and "The Restaurant."), and David A. Hurwitz ("Fear Factor," "The Man Show") to produce the new show.

Official release NBC-Universal

BURBANK, Calif. -- NBC, Reveille and Sean "Diddy" Combs will ask culinary-minded stars to team with celebrity chefs including Wolfgang Puck, Cat Cora (Food Network's "Iron Chef America") and Govind Armstrong (executive chef, Table 8, Los Angeles) to whip up an eventful new reality cooking competition series over the course of five consecutive weeknights from April 17-21 (8-9 p.m. ET) in "Celebrity Cooking Showdown," it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

Participating celebrities will be announced later this week.

" 'Celebrity Cooking Showdown' is going to be a unique high-energy take on the time-tested cooking genre that works consistently across the television landscape," said Reilly. "It's about great food, terrific personalities and big-time pressure."

"Cooking shows have commanded huge ratings around the world, and we can't wait to bring this exciting new competitive format to primetime network TV," added Ben Silverman, executive producer and Reveille CEO.

"The hottest trend right now is the art of cooking. There's nothing sexier than preparing a beautiful meal for your woman or man," said Combs. "Celebrities competing in the high-pressure arena of the world's top chefs will make great television."

"This show is like a dream come true, working with people who share the same passion, love, and excitement about food and cooking that I do," said Puck.

"Celebrity Cooking Showdown," from Reveille in association with Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment, will match three celebrity chefs to train side-by-side with nine celebrities. After one-on-one coaching and a culinary "boot camp," competition will play out in real time in front of a live studio audience as the stars race against the clock in this adrenaline-filled event to complete their world-class meal.

Each chef will train their assigned stars providing culinary tips and secrets to prepare their meal for the final presentation. As the audience cheers for their favorites, the chefs and celebrities must work together -- a simple timing mistake, a forgotten ingredient, or a dropped plate could mean the difference between victory or defeat.

The format of each night's show will evolve as the week progresses. On Monday-Wednesday (April 17-19) three different celebrities will compete each night. On Thursday, April 20, the three winners from each night will advance to don aprons for the final cook-off. Viewers will then have the chance to vote via online and text-messaging based solely on presentation. Meanwhile, the in-studio judges will be responsible for matters of taste and flavor.

On the week's final episode on Friday, April 21, the results will be in, the winner declared and the audience will get to see the professional chefs in action. Then the tables will be turned in the "Chef's Challenge," while choice unseen moments from the week's competition are revealed.

"Celebrity Cooking Showdown" is executive produced by Silverman, David A. Hurwitz ("Fear Factor," "The Man Show") and Sean "Diddy" Combs (MTV's "Make the Band," "Run's House," HBO's "Bad Boys of Comedy").

Reveille is a leading independent production and distribution company focused on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights through scripted and alternative television formats. Launched in March of 2002 by Silverman, former Head of International Packaging at the William Morris Agency, the company leverages its unique relationships with the world's top broadcasters and producers to acquire, produce and distribute innovative entertainment programming across all television genres, such as "The Office," "30 Days," "The Biggest Loser," "BlowOut" (Bravo), "Bound for Glory," "Nashville Star" (USA), "Date My Mom" and "The Restaurant."

In addition, Reveille is also the world leader in creating integrated marketing opportunities for leading advertisers while developing alternative financing paradigms. The company maintains offices in both Los Angeles and New York.

No word if Diddy will host 'CELEBRITY COOKING SHOWDOWN' or have any airtime, but Diddy has never met a camera he didn't like.

Making the Band Returns:
MTV Making the Band fans, a new season will debut April 13, at the same time and same place (MTV, 10:00/9:00 ct.) No word on details yet.

Diddy's New Ladies Sportswear

Ladies Diddy's thinking of you! The Chief (CEO) "Diddy" announced his Sean John clothing company has reachedf an agreement, with G-Ill Apparel Group to manufacture and distribute the new Sean John Women's sportswear collection. More about Sean John Women's sportswear collection.

Diddy in Rio de Janeiro; Partying, Night Club and Callgirls?

Jeannette Walls from MSNBC.com gossip, reports the Diddy was spotted in Brazil at a well-known hang-out for cheap call girls.

The rap impresario is in Brazil, enjoying Carnival, where he was spotted by reporters slipping into a hot spot known for its low-priced call girls, reports our source in Rio. "The name of the place is 'Help' and the girls there are supposed to be the cheapest prostitutes in the city," says the source.

The article continues to go on to say, Diddy was at Brazil's most popular club with girlfriend Kim Porter. If there were prostitutes he wouldn't know, says a close Combs source... Combs spent the week in Rio, for the Samba parade, 14 samba groups, in 80 minute parades which include two night of partying in streets till sun rise... Now, Diddy does party worldwide!