According to a view shared by the book's author, Beth Golub, and her editor at Carol Publishing, SAT represents a "natural outgrowth" of Seinfeld. ("Carol"), of SAT, a book of trivia questions "based on the Seinfeld show." (Golub Dep. Defendants are the author, Beth Golub, and publisher, Carol Publishing Group, Inc. Plaintiff, Castle Rock Entertainment ("Castle Rock"), produced and now owns the copyrights to each episode of the highly successful television series Seinfeld, a comedy program featuring four characters confronting life's "daily, petty annoyances." (Shostak Dep. I deny plaintiffs motion for summary judgment with respect to its claim of unfair competition, however, because there are material issues in dispute concerning this claim. For the reasons to be discussed, I grant plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on the issue of copyright infringement, finding that defendants have appropriated original material from Seinfeld without making "fair use" of the program. Though this seemingly invites the conclusion that this opinion is not about anything, plaintiffs claims raise a variety of difficult and interesting questions concerning the proper scope of copyright protection as it extends to popular television programming. Plaintiff brings this action alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition flowing from defendants' publication of The Seinfeld Aptitude Test ("SAT"), a book of trivia concerning Seinfeld, a popular television *262 comedy program "about absolutely nothing." (Golub Dep. Kummer, New York City, for Defendant Carol Publishing Group, Inc.
*261 Davis, Scott, Weber & Edwards, P.C., David Dunn, Emily Granrud, New York City, for Plaintiff.īeldock, Levine & Hoffman, LLP, Melvin L.
CAROL PUBLISHING GROUP, INC., and Beth B.
0 kommentar(er)
