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9th Circuit settles script ownership dispute

By Richard Binder

An appellate ruling involving the 2003 Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai clarified for the first time in 40 years how a writer of a finished script with copyrightable elements can successfully bring a contract claim against a studio for stealing his or her idea.

The June 9 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit applied existing case law dating to the 1960s, said Gregory Sater, a partner at Los Angeles-based Rutter, Hobbs & Davidoff, who frequently handles idea-submission claims and was not involved in the case.

"In copyright, you have to show access, which is really use, and a substantial similarity of protected expression. In idea submission, you need to show use, and the way you show use is by showing it was used. The way you show it is by substantial similarity. It sounds like the same as copyright, but it's not," he said. " This is very helpful to get a new case that flushes it out."

Full story on NLJ.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 11, 2010 (boomark / email).