THOMAS WALKER, Plaintiff, v. TIME LIFE FILMS, INC., DAVID SUSSKIND, GILL CHAMPION, MARTIN RICHARDS and HEYWOOD GOULD, Defendants, 615 F. Supp. 430

Summary

Plaintiff's suit involving several claims alleged that defendants had illegally used plaintiff's original idea and expression of his book as the basis for its film bearing the same title. The court dismissed plaintiff's copyright infringement claim holding that many of the alleged similarities fell into the non-protectable categories of either historical or contemporary facts, material traceable to common sources or within the public domain, and scenes a faire. Regarding the copyrightable material, the court found that no reasonable observer could conclude that the book and film were substantially similar. Neither was the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 1125(a) violated, as there was little likelihood of popular misconception and insufficient proof that the public identified the commonly shared title with only plaintiff and his book. Plaintiff's state law claims were also dismissed as no confidential relationship existed between the parties and no evidence of unfair competition or deceptive ...