Meet The Parents Doesn't Infringe Horror Film, Court Says

Saturday, January 06, 2007 -

Movie studios often find themselves on the business end of lawsuits claiming that the screenplays of their successful films infringe on the unproduced works of often amateur writers who think they've been ripped off, with the case sometimes balancing on convoluted conspiracy theories rather than the actual similiarties of the two scripts. So is the case with a man who sued NBC Universal, accusing them of taking from his horror screenplay for their pair of comedies. If that isn't strange enough, the guy wrote this of his script: "If you find the material contrary to your taste, vile, abusive and pornographic, the author has achieved his objective."

The defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that no reasonable juror could find the two comedies were substantially similar to Ardito's copyrighted works. Judge Lynch agreed. He said any alleged similarities claimed by Ardito involved the most trivial and generic of incidents.