Insights on Motion Pictures

The Second Circuit held recently that the screenwriter of the pop culture classic “Friday the 13th” did not write the Screenplay as a work made for hire, and, as the author of the work, could regain U.S. ownership rights to the work.

In a striking victory for media companies and the First Amendment, a California appeals court recently threw out two-time Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland’s lawsuit against FX, which alleged that the docudrama Feud harmed her reputation and profited off her name without compensating her.

On July 16, 2013, Peter Fonda, co-star, co-producer, and co-writer of the iconic film, Easy Rider, filed suit against Dolce & Gabbana in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.