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Hayden Christensen Wins Big Victory Against USA Network in ‘Royal Pains’ Appeal
MAY 28, 2013 - Actor Hayden Christensen has settled his legal battle with bosses behind U.S. TV series Royal Pains. The Jumper star and his brother Tove, who own production company Forest Park Pictures, accused executives at USA Network of stealing their 2005 idea for a show based on a “concierge” doctor who makes home visits to rich and famous clients.
The siblings filed a lawsuit against USA chiefs in 2010 after Royal Pains premiered, claiming the show was strikingly similar to their pitch, entitled Housecall, but a judge ultimately dismissed the case.
The Christensens won the right to an appeal last year (12), and earlier this month (May13) both parties submitted papers to dismiss the suit with prejudice and cover their own legal costs, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Hayden Christensen Wins Big Victory Against USA Network in ‘Royal Pains’ Appeal
In a loss for big Hollywood studios, the 2nd appellate circuit revives the actor’s lawsuit that claims the channel stole the idea for the doctor show.
By Eriq Gardner
Hayden Christensen has scored a major success at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2010 (or earlier), the brothers allegedly brought the idea for a concierge doctor show titled “Housecall” to USA and met with Alex Pepiol, who at the time was manager of original scripted series programming at the network. They say they also sent him materials including a treatment, character biographies and show ideas.
6/27/2012 – A decision by the appellate circuit Tuesday revives his claims against USA Television Network for allegedly stealing his concept to create the series Royal Pains and represents a significant setback for Hollywood studios at large in contending with idea-theft lawsuits.
In 2005, Forest Park, the production company operated by Christensen, best known for his role as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels, along with his brother Tove Christensen, formulated a concept for a TV show called Housecall, in which a doctor, after being expelled from the medical community for treating patients who couldn’t pay, moves to Malibu and attends to the rich and famous.
Forest Park created a written series treatment for the idea, including character bios, themes and storylines, and sent it to Alex Sepiol, a programming executive at USA Network. The Christensens then had meetings with Sepiol, who later testified he had never heard of doctor who makes house calls to the rich and famous before hearing the pitch. However, the meetings never amounted to much.
Then, in 2009, USA introduced Royal Pains, a show with a similar concept, which led the Christensens to sue. Most important, the Christensens didn’t allege copyright infringement but rather a red-hot claim known as breach of implied contract. Under such a claim, when an idea is submitted and accepted for review, as the Christensens asserted here, there’s an expectation that if the material is later used, the writer will get something.
It’s a cause of action that has troubled many entertainment studios accustomed to successfully defending copyright infringement lawsuits. Plaintiffs fail in such cases because ideas are not protected by copyright; only substantially similar expression gets legal cover.
In fighting implied-contract claims, studios have argued that state-based contract allegations are pre-empted by federal copyright law.
Last year, NBCUniversal suffered a big loss in a similar case concerning Syfy’s Ghost Hunters when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that theory. The case was significant enough that when it was appealed up to the U.S. Supreme Court, the MPAA and others in the industry submitted an amicus brief. The Supreme Court denied a review.
Since the loss, Hollywood studios and their lawyers have consoled themselves by figuring that it was just one appellate circuit and that there were others out there with the opposite conclusion.
But now Darth Vader has come along.
Last year, a federal judge dismissed Christensen’s lawsuit against USA Network, agreeing with the network that copyright law pre-empted the implied breach of contract claim and that since his allegations entailed the theft of unprotectable ideas, the lawsuit had no merit.
On Tuesday, 2nd Circuit Judge John Walker Jr. wrote an opinion that reversed this judgment and held that Christensens’ claims were not pre-empted by copyright law. “There are several qualitative differences between such a contract claim and a copyright violation claim,” he writes, adding that sister appellate circuits recently have come around to this same conclusion.
The judge says that a plaintiff can’t avoid pre-emption simply by labeling a claim “breach of contract” but must actually allege elements of an enforceable contract, “including offer, acceptance, and consideration, in addition to adequately alleging the defendant’s breach of the contract.”
To survive pre-emption, plaintiffs like Christensen have to bring proof of an “extra element” such as mutual assent or a promise to pay for use of a submitted idea. Other circuits have interpreted the “extra element” standard in varying ways, and in this case, Walker notes that “we need not address whether pre-emption is precluded whenever there is a contract claim or only when the contract claim includes a promise to pay.”
But Walker sees that the Christensens are alleging that when USA Network took the pitch meeting, it voluntarily accepted their ideas “knowing full well that Plaintiffs had submitted those ideas in confidence and for economic gain, and with the clear expectation of payment in the event those ideas were utilized by USA Network.”
As such, he writes that this is qualitatively different than any copyright allegation and has thus decided to reverse the lower court’s decision and remand the case back to the district court for further proceedings.
READ THE FULL VERSION of THE COURTS DECISION …
Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hayden-christensen-royal-pains-usa-lawsuit-342497
Hayden Christensen claims USA stole his idea for ‘Royal Pains’
By Eriq Gardner
12/21/2010 - Not even Darth Vader has the power to stop alleged idea theft in Hollywood.
Hayden Christensen, Anakin Skywalker in the “Star Wars” prequels, is suing USA Network over “Royal Pains,” saying the cable network ripped off his idea for a show about a concierge doctor in Malibu who makes house calls to the rich and famous.
The actor, along with his brother Tove and Forest Park Pictures, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in New York District Court.
The brothers allegedly brought the idea for a concierge doctor show titled “Housecall” to USA and met with Alex Pepiol, who at the time was manager of original scripted series programming at the network. They say they also sent him materials including a treatment, character biographies and show ideas.
“It was understood that Plaintiffs were pitching those ideas with the object of persuading USA Network to purchase those ideas for commercial development, and/or to employ Plaintiffs in the production of those ideas,” reads the complaint, adding the brothers were never told of a similar series in the works.
“Royal Pains” supposedly misappropriated characters, concept and story lines from the “Housecall” treatment.
The plaintiffs, represented by David Marek at Liddle & Robinson, aren’t suing for copyright infringement, though.
Instead, they’re following others who have found success in making idea theft claims by asserting breach of implied contract, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. Christensen is demanding profits received from the “Royal Pains” concept and damages “believed to be in the millions of dollars,” according to the complaint.
USA declined to comment on the suit.
Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/thr-esq/hayden-christensen-claims-usa-stole-64055
