Bit Parts

The California Court of Appeal, Second District, affirmed that there was no implied-in-fact contract for Miramax Film to use writer Jeff Grosso's script, 'The Shell Game,' when making the movie 'Rounders.' Grosso v. Miramax Film Corp., B193872. The appeals court noted in its unpublished opinion: 'Plaintiff simply mailed his script to Gotham [Entertainment Group] after reading in a writer's market guide that Gotham accepted unsolicited material. There was no response from Gotham at all. There were no communications between plaintiff and Gotham. Nor was there any communication between plaintiff and defendants, including Miramax. There was no evidence of any communication between Gotham and defendants with respect to plaintiff's ideas. There was no opinion testimony presented as to the custom in the industry. There is no evidence defendants did or said anything prior to disclosure to indicate a willingness to pay for the disclosure.' The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit previously ruled that Gross sufficiently alleged a state law claim to allow him to proceed. Grosso v. Miramax Film Corp., 383 F.3d 965 (9^th Cir. 2004).

Record-Label Trademarks/Laches