The New York Times interviewed Manatt's Robert Jacobs, co-chair of the firm's Entertainment and Media Litigation practice, for an article on a federal judge's recent ruling that the Off Broadway play 3C did not infringe the copyright of the TV hit Three's Company.
The New York Times reports that a United States District Court judge wrote that the play represented a "drastic departure" from the TV show. In an exhaustive 56-page ruling, it was decided that though the play appropriated a substantial amount of material from Three's Company, it was also a "highly transformative parody of the television series" and represented a significant enough departure to pose "little risk to the market for the original."
Jacobs said that this ruling "shows a continuing evolution of courts being comfortable with fair use and recognizing it." Still, he added, "It won't resonate as a groundbreaking seismic shift with these issues."
Read the article here.