Apple, M. Night Shyamalan win copyright trial over Apple TV+ series ‘Servant’
Apple and director M. Night Shyamalan successfully persuaded a California federal jury on Friday to dismiss allegations that the Apple TV+ series “Servant,” produced by Shyamalan, copied another filmmaker’s movie. According to the verdict sheet released on Monday, the jury concluded that the creators of “Servant” could not have unlawfully copied Francesca Gregorini’s “The Truth About Emanuel” because they did not have access to it prior to developing the series.
Reuters:
Gregorini sued Apple and Shyamalan for copyright infringement in 2020, arguing “Servant,” which ran from 2018 to 2023, was a “brazen copy” of “The Truth About Emanuel.”
“Servant” and Gregorini’s movie are both about a mother grieving the death of her baby who forms an attachment to a realistic doll. In both, a teenage nanny goes along with the mother and cares for the doll as if it were alive.
U.S. District Judge John Walter in Los Angeles dismissed the case in 2020, finding the works’ similarities “pale in comparison” to differences in their plots, themes, dialogue and other elements. Walter also ordered Gregorini to pay more than $160,000 of Apple and Shyamalan’s attorneys’ fees after determining that her claims were unreasonable.
The 9th Circuit revived the lawsuit and threw out the fee award in 2022, concluding that a jury could reasonably find “Servant” was similar enough to Gregorini’s film to support her case.
MacDailyNews Take: Pound sand, Gregorini.
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