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1 Ent. & Sports Law. 1 (1982-1983)

handle is hein.journals/entspl1 and id is 1 raw text is: Joe TEE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS LAWYER Publication of the Forum Committee on the Entertainment and Sports Industries Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1982 Current Trends in Entertainment Litigation: The Insurance Empire Strike&-Mak by Ronald S. Rosen* I. Introduction In noting the title of this article, one would have to admit and observe that trends are never so much current as they are continuations of lengthy evolutionary developments. In that light it is safe to say that when one speaks of current trends in the area of copyright- plagiarism litigation and the position (or plight) of the plaintiff in such litigation we can conclude that the in- surance empire has always been striking out and strik- ing back in its defense of successful and reputable writers and creators who are accused of having wrongfully copied or taken the work of someone else. The word plight is used in describing the plaintiff in such litigation because, with few exceptions, it is the defendant's game because of many factors: 1. the current and developing state of the law; 2. the great number of unmeritorious or at best thin claims which are asserted and find their way to the courts at an ever-increasing rate; 3. the gross misunderstandings of many claimants and their lawyers regarding the nature of those property rights which are protected and those ideas and concepts which are free as the air and available to anyone; 4. the economics of such litigation; -and 5. the attitudes for defendants subjected to such liti- gation, who confront such claims with a para- phrase of the old call to arms-millions for defense, not one penny for the unsuccessful and untalented who have accused us of stealing. Lastly, the plaintiff who tries to proceed to a successful conclusion in this area is,'in the end, blocked by the tommitment of insurers to protect their insureds and, of .,Ronald S. Rosen is a member of the Los AngelNft firm of Silverberg, Rosen, Leon & Behr. The court found that Star Wars' androids C-3P0 and R2D2 were Inviolate-unusual, original creations whose unique expressions had not been copied from anyone. equal importance, the commitment of lawyers who de- fend these cases. These observations are not intended to demean or in any way criticize the legitimate author who has been wronged, that is, whose work has been blatantly copied and cynically used for economic gain. One such person was Ray Bradbury who made his way into the reported cases in the famous case of Bradbury v. CBS, Inc., 287 F.2d 478 (9th Cir. 1961). In that litigation, Mr. Brad- bury's famous book Fahrenheit 451 was slavishly copied and broadcast on CBS's Playhouse 90. Bradbury really only serves as a dramatic exception A I\I'e 0j4: Kif' we look at the cases, the results (continued on page 3)

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