Intellectual Property » Ninth Circuit Won’t Toss “The Purge” Suit

Ninth Circuit Won’t Toss “The Purge” Suit

June 22, 2017

Vintage old super 8 retro movie camera with copy space

Universal City Studios can’t dodge a lawsuit filed by screenwriter Douglas Jordan-Benel, which claims the film “The Purge” is derived from his screenplay, called “Settler’s Day.” Blumhouse Productions and Purge writer-director James DeMonaco tried to stop the lawsuit, saying Jordan-Benel was attempting to interfere with their First Amendment rights and was unlikely to succeed, but the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the suit can continue. “We agree with the district court that the conduct or act underlying Jordan-Benel’s breach of implied-in-fact contract claim is Defendants’ failure to pay for the use of the screenplay idea,” the court wrote in its opinion. “Jordan-Benel’s claim does not challenge the activity of filmmaking at all. In fact, he desperately wanted the film to be made. Because the ‘overall thrust of the complaint’ challenges Defendants’ failure to pay for the use of his idea, we hold that the failure to pay is the conduct from which the claim arises.” The ruling is a rare appellate loss by a major movie studio on an idea theft claim.

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