“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” Not a Simpson!

You talking to me?

Frank Sivero is best known for his ability to portray mobsters in movies and on screen television series, like The Godfather Part II and Goodfellas.

So, why is he being a wise guy and suing Fox Television Studios for $250 million? Well, because of the wise guy in the Simpsons show of course.

Keep Your Friends Close, But Keep Those Neighbors Off Your Lawn

Jump back 25 years, when the writers of The Simpsons were Mr. Sivero’s next door neighbors. The writers, says Sivero, knew about the development of Frankie Carbone, and that the personality of the character was created by by Sivero.

The Simpsons decided to introduce Louie, the second in command to Fat Tony, in 15 episode, running around mob-like in Springfield. Louie seems to be quite a bit like Sivero. So, does this infringe California’s publicity rights law? Sivero filed a complaint in the Superior Court of California to find out.

How do we fix it?

Sivero is asking for $50 million for actual damages because The Simpsons damaged his characters by stealing his likeness. He also asks for a generous $100 million for improper interference, and another $50 million for actual confidential idea damages.

We’ll see how this one plays out.

What do you think?

Does Louie overwhelmingly remind you of Frankie?

Love-laced Lawsuit

Everyone and his brother has heard of, or probably watched Deep Throat: a pornographic film starring Miss Linda Lovelace. While Miss Lovelace is the star of a long history of controversy, a film depicting her biography may be stealing some of that limelight.

The latest point of controversy concerning Lovelace is a copyright infringement suit in the District Court of New York filed by Arrow Productions, the production company that owns the rights to the pornographic film Deep Throat. The production company claims the new biopic Lovelace by the Weinstein Company violates their 1972 copyright.

If the idea of the lawsuit wasn’t intriguing enough, the complaint itself should take the cake. The suit? Three scenes from the original Deep Throat had their dialogue reproduced in the biography, including the positioning of the actors. The defense relies on a fair use argument.

To accept a fair use argument, United States District Court Judge Griesa must consider a four factor test. The primary factor is whether the new film is transformative, or if it “adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning or message.” The courts finding, and the logical finding is yes: Deep Throat is a pornographic film with explicit sex scenes. Lovelace is a biography that captures the life of Linda Lovelace, and her struggle with the pornography industry, including the filming of Deep Throat. The court further holds that the reproduction of the infamous medical consultation scene was recreated to show Lovelace’s inexperience in the industry, not to reproduce a sexual scene for the pleasure of the viewing audience.

The court does explain that Arrow Productions proves the second factor in claiming the nature of the copyrighted work, which is a creative film.

The third factor in the fair use test is whether the scenes reproduced in the biography were substantial, and since the scenes only amount to 4 minutes of the 61-minute film, the court found that this did not meet the test of substantiality.

Last, Arrow Productions does not prove their trademark claim because a pornographic film and a biography cannot reasonable be confused with one another.

In the end, Weinstein was triumphant in proving that his film did not infringe on the copyrighted film Deep Throat.