Hollywood is looking at a bunch of various copyright lawsuits, one of the most notable ones is focused on Friday The 13th with the film’s producer and writer fighting in court claiming rights to the franchise.
Today, it was announced via The Hollywood Reporter that Friday The 13th screenwriter Victor Miller has won an appeal to secure the domestic rights to the horror franchise from producer Sean Cunningham.
On Thursday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a win for him in a copyright termination battle. As a result, he’s set to reclaim the domestic rights to the franchise.
Cunningham had claimed Miller’s script was work for hire, which was refuted by a federal judge back in 2018.
It’s a big win for Marc Toberoff, who is representing other screenwriters trying to get the rights/copyright to their material.
The original killer in the 1980 film was Pamela Voorhees, the mother of Jason, who had drowned at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. At the end of the film, an undead Jason leaps from the water and became the staple killer for the franchise moving on.
Crystal Lake’s history of murder doesn’t deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but the fresh-faced young people — Jack (Kevin Bacon), Alice (Adrienne King), Bill (Harry Crosby), Marcie (Jeannine Taylor) and Ned (Mark Nelson) — pay little heed to the old-timers. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they’re slashed, shot and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent.
Attorney Marc Toberoff, is also representing John and Jim Thomas with their own attempt to get the rights to their 1987 script that was turned into the Predator franchise. One of the handful of keystone IP properties at 20th Century Studios that Disney inherited when they purchased 21st Century Fox.
There is a possibility that this appeals win for Victor Miller, might lead to the Thomas Brothers also getting participation with the domestic rights to Predator. However, we’ll have to see how things shape-up in the courtroom, as each one of these copyright cases aren’t apples-to-apples.
SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
THE RONIN 