Posts Tagged: "musical"

Judge Allows Zorro Copyright Claims to Move Forward Against Original Zorro Copyright Owner

On Friday, May 11th, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila entered an order deciding motions made in a copyright case involving competing musical productions based on the fictional story of the fictional folk hero Zorro. Judge Davila’s orders allows copyright infringement claims asserted by a writer who developed a Zorro musical in the 1990s to move forward against Zorro Productions, the entity which had licensed the Zorro character to entertainment companies going back to the late 1940s. This case is in the Northern District of California.

Steve Brachmann

June 2, 2018

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein entered an opinion and order denying summary judgment in the Southern District of New York in a case involving the stage musical production of Anastasia currently running on Broadway. Judge Hellerstein denied the motion for summary judgement filed by defendants Anastasia LLC and Terrence McNally, the bookwriter for Anastasia, finding that there were material facts in dispute regarding claims that the Broadway musical was substantially similar to a play which was first registered with the U.S. Copyright Office back in 1948.

Steve Brachmann

April 9, 2018