French cosmetics giant Lancome and Uma Thurman are wrangling over the use of her name and image in an advertising campaign.

The company asked for a ruling against the actress, who it says is demanding $1 million for unauthorized use of her name and face on Canadian billboards and Asian Web sites after her contract expired.

Thurman’s lawyer, Bertram Fields, said he was surprised by Lancome’s lawsuit.

“I thought we were negotiating in good faith,” Fields said Thursday. “I guess the French decided to strike a pre-emptive blow.”

Lancome and Thurman signed a two-year contract in April 2000 with an option to extend the agreement for another two years.

Under the terms, Lancome agreed to pay Thurman $5.8 million for the first two years and $3.1 million for each additional year, if the company exercised its option.

Lancome claims the contract relieves the company of responsibility if third parties use her name and face after the contract lapses.

Lancome’s lawyer, Peter D. Raymond, said his client “can’t control everybody out in the world.”

The papers were filed Wednesday in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court. Earlier this week, 37-year-old Jack Jordan was convicted of stalking and harassing Thurman in the court’s criminal part.

“I’m delighted that the case will go before a jury,” Thurman’s lawyer said. “They got an enormous benefit throughout the world after the contract was over, and $1 million doesn’t begin to do it.”

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WENN

Today a jury began deliberations in the Uma Thurman stalker case. The 37-year-old man, Jack Jordan, could face up to a year in prison if convicted.

He is charged with misdemeanor counts of stalking and harassing the actress and her family.

During the five day trial, held in New York City, Uma testified that “I was completely freaked out. It was like a nightmare.” Her parents also took the stand during the trial.

Jordan is now living with his parents in Maryland after they committed him to a mental institution. He had been studying to be a teacher.

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WENN

The former mental patient accused of stalking Uma Thurman appeared at her front door repeatedly at odd hours, and he left her a frightening letter, according to testimony Tuesday by two of the actress’ employees.

Thurman’s housekeeper Dorota Janas testified on the second day of Jack Jordan’s trial that he rang the bell at the actress’ Greenwich Village town house at least twice a day for at least 10 days last summer.

Jordan, 37, is on trial in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court charged with stalking and aggravated harassment. He was arrested in October 2007 after following and trying to contact Thurman from early 2005 until about a month before his arrest. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted.

His lawyer, George Vomvolakis, says Jordan is a former mental patient who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic and bipolar and should be in psychiatric treatment, not in jail.

Janas, testifying through a Polish interpreter, said she saw Jordan sitting on the front stoop a few days before another employee called police. Some time later, she retrieved a letter Jordan had left for Thurman on the stoop.

Samara Koffler, a film producer who was Thurman’s former personal assistant, testified that she returned from the Bahamas in August 2007 and saw the letter Janas had found. She read part of it in court.

“Dear Uma,” Koffler read, “I love you completely. Unless rousted, I’ll spend the night in front of (Thurman’s address).”

At another point, she read: “Ask your assistant to let me wait inside until you return. I feel afraid that if I see you with another man I’ll kill myself.”

Koffler said she told Thurman about the letter and called 911 and told police “an unstable man” was hanging around the house.

The 38-year-old Thurman — who has starred in “Pulp Fiction,” “Kill Bill,” “The Producers,” and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” among other films — hired a private detective and allowed installation of surveillance cameras around the house, where she lives with her two children.

Earlier in the day, Thurman’s parents testified.

Her father, Robert Thurman, said his reaction after reading e-mails from Jordan was to try to remember the FBI’s telephone number. He said in court Tuesday he was seeing Jordan for the first time.

Her mother, Birgitte “Nena” Thurman, testified that she believed Jordan “was someone who would benefit from medical attention.” She said the first time she spoke to the defendant was in 2005 when he called her home in Woodstock, N.Y., and told her that he “and my daughter had a predestination to be together.” She said he asked her to relay that message.

“I tried to assure him in no uncertain terms that this was just a fantasy and he was projecting,” Thurman said, and that her daughter had no interest in him.

INF, AP

The man accused of stalking actress Uma Thurman has pleaded not guilty to charges against him in a New York court.

Jack Jordan is accused of sending disturbing letters to the actress.

In court on Monday, one of Thurman’s relatives testified about phone calls he allegedly received from the defendant.

The relative said that Jordan threatened to kill himself within 48 hours if he did not get Thurman’s phone number, and also said that Thurman visited him in dreams in the form of a goddess.

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WENN

Uma Thurman is scheduled to appear in a New York court on Monday as a witness in the trial of her alleged stalker.

Jack Jordan, 35, is charged with misdemeanor stalking, aggravated harrassment and felony coercion.

He is accused of behaving bizarrely towards the star, threatening to kill himself if the Kill Bill actress began dating another man.

He is also alleged to have presented Thurman with odd drawings, including a cartoon sketch of himself “walking along the edge of a razor blade”, and sent a letter reading, “I feel afraid that if I see you out again with another man, I will want to kill myself, maybe even after we meet.”

Jury selection began today and the trial will kick off on Monday at Manhattan’s Supreme Court.

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WENN

Uma Thurman is jealous of the success the Lord of the Rings film franchise achieved – because she turned down a leading role in the smash hit trilogy.

The Kill Bill star was approached by acclaimed director Peter Jackson to play an integral part in the big-screen adaptations of J. R Tolkein’s beloved books – but had to pass on the role because she had just given birth.

And the star is devastated she missed out on the career-making role, but admits the offer came at the wrong time.

She tells U.S website MTV.com, “Yeah, I was asked. I wish I had done it. I had a small child at the time, and I couldn’t go away for a year. I was just too attached to home. It just caught me at the wrong moment. Oh, I truly wish I could’ve been able to take that plunge, and maybe I should’ve, but I just couldn’t at the time.

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WENN

Uma Thurman was on hand to at the Film Society’s honoring of Meryl Streep. Uma, who’s been romantically linked to Arpad Busson shows off a huge rock on her finger at the event.

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