Summary Judgment for Academy Award Winning Director and Screenwriter

The firm, together with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, recently defeated a nine-figure copyright claim brought in federal court, and ensured that it was upheld by the Ninth Circuit. Plaintiffs alleged that the firm’s clients, an Academy Award® winning director, an Academy Award® winning screenwriter and a major motion picture studio, had infringed the copyright in plaintiffs’ screenplay and stolen their idea for what ultimately became an internationally-acclaimed film. Plaintiffs sought more than $100 million in damages. The firm obtained summary judgment against all of the plaintiffs’ claims and had it affirmed in the Ninth Circuit, leaving only the overwhelmingly less valuable implied contract claim to be tried to a jury (which the Firm intends to do in the coming months).