In the entertainment industry, especially in the US, copyright infringement cases continue to flood the courts. As the industry is such big business, making billions of pounds in revenue, film-makers and publishers face an increased risk of being sued over intellectual property. This is why many industry professionals take out professional indemnity insurance as a precaution.
The following is a brief round-up of all the latest copyright lawsuits making the news:
• Comedian Ricky Gervais has been sued over his bestselling ‘Flanimals’ children’s book. Writer and artist John Savage is claiming that Flanimals is evidently based on his own work, Captain Pottie’s Wildlife Encyclopaedia, and that it therefore breaches copyright laws. Whilst Savage says that the books are “broadly the same in content and character”, a spokesperson for Gervais has said that the drawings and concepts behind Flanimals pre-date Savage’s book.
• Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has reportedly called for a lawsuit accusing her of copyright infringement to be dismissed. The estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs is alleging that the fourth novel in the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ copies details from Jacobs’ 1987 work called ‘Willy the Wizard’.