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Suit Seeks Share Of Profits from 'Jersey Boys'

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
January 28, 2008
In the months before his death from cancer in 1991, Beaumont, TX, lawyer Rex Conrad Woodard helped Thomas Gaetano DeVito, an original member of the pop group the Four Seasons, write an autobiographical book, Woodard's widow alleges. Woodard died before the book could be published. Now, with the work allegedly partly the basis for the hit Broadway musical 'Jersey Boys,' Woodard's widow has sued DeVito for a share of income stemming from the work.

Donna Corbello has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas seeking a declaratory judgment to enforce a contract between DeVito, who
lives in Las Vegas, and her late husband. Corbello, now living near Georgetown, TX, also seeks an equitable accounting of any profits derived from or obtained through DeVito's 'exploitation' of the work.

Corbello seeks a declaratory judgment that: the work is a joint work under 17 U.S.C. Sec. 101; she is joint owner of it under 17 U.S.C. Sec. 201(d) and may exploit the work independently of DeVito; Woodard was a co-author of the work and a co-claimant to copyrights under 17 U.S.C. Sec. 201(a); his contribution and ownership must be recognized by the U.S. Copyright Office; and that DeVito must account for all profits arising directly or indirectly from the work. Corbello seeks a minimum of $5 million in actual damages.

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