The copyright dispute is over Street house and this year’s remake, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor, has turned into a full-blown legal brawl.
If R. Lance Hill, who wrote the original 1986 screenplay under the pseudonym David Lee Henry, thought in his February document that he would take out Amazon Studios, MGM Studios and United Artists for “flagrant copyright infringement” – he simply became struck back, hard.
“Plaintiff’s complaint disregards the established rule of copyright law that the author of a work made for hire is not the person who created the work,” says the counterclaim, which Amazon Studios, MGM and United Artists filed in federal court on May 3 have (read it here).
Patrick Swayze in 1989’s Road House
United Artists/courtesy Everett Collection
The original Barroom flick starring Patrick Swayze came out in 1989 and proved to be a huge success Dirty dancing Stern and UA. We’re flashing back to 2024, and amid allegations of AI use and possible strike-busting, the house that Bezos built brought the president led by Doug Liman to light Street house Repeat on March 21st.
With a pumped up Gyllenhaal and UFC star Conor McGregor competing against each other, the new guy Street house According to Amazon, the film proved to be a hit with a record number of over 50 million viewers watching it on Prime Video in its first two weekends.
This is one of several reasons why Amazon and his gang are now fighting Hill.
“In 1986, Hill personally acknowledged, represented, represented – and even contractually guaranteed – that the 1986 screenplay was entitled Rest house was published as a work for hire by his own company, Lady Amos Literary Works, Ltd. (“Lady Amos”), and that Lady Amos – not Hill – was therefore its author within the meaning of United States copyright law,” said the defendants/plaintiffs represented by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLC in their account of events. “For the same reason, Lady Amos, not Hill, was the grantor of the rights that UA acquired in 1986.”
“Hill cannot rewrite this story now, nearly four decades after the crime. His attempt to terminate this grant is invalid and his copyright infringement lawsuit is doomed to fail.”
The studios are relying on a slam dunk, saying that the claims of Hill and his attorney Marc Toberoff “are barred because plaintiff’s copyright registration for the 1986 screenplay was based on fraudulent representations to the Copyright Office regarding plaintiff’s alleged authorship and ownership.” was secured and is therefore invalid.”
In short: Amazon, MGM and UA say Hill knowingly lied to the government.
“That’s nonsense,” replies copyright campaigner Toberoff.
“Defendants’ claim of fraud against the Copyright Office is a baseless distraction,” the lawyer who took on Warner Bros. over Superman and Marvel over Jack Kirby told Deadline on Monday. “Plaintiff has informed the Copyright Office that this matter is controversial and will be subject to litigation.”
“Dispute” can perhaps be expressed entirely along the lines of the Marquess of Queensberry – at least according to what the lawyers for Amazon, MGM and UA lay out.
“The contradictions and falsehoods set forth in the complaint are nothing more than a fiction concocted by Hill’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, in order to enrich both of them by falsifying a fraudulent claim of copyright authorship,” the counterclaim states.
“Upon information and belief, Toberoff (or an entity owned and controlled by him) acquired an interest in the rights to the 1986 Screenplay or an equivalent guarantee from his client in anticipation of an undeserved windfall – a scheme , which Toberoff used to enforce self-serving producer contracts and other claims on numerous works for which he allegedly served copyright notices on behalf of his clients.”
Additionally, the counterclaimants want a court ruling that Hill has no copyright in the original Street house Script. They also want the Copyright Office to destroy its Jan. 24, 2024, registration of the 1986 screenplay. To make matters worse, the studios are also seeking legal fees and damages from Hill and his company, Lady Amos.
Hold on tight, one way or another someone is going to get hurt.