Bit Parts

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, dismissed with prejudice a copyright infringement suit filed over the movie Dreamgirls. Bailey v. Black Entertainment Television (BET), 3:09CV787. The pro se suit by plaintiff Samuel Bailey alleged BET, Paramount Pictures and Viacom infringed on Bailey's screenplay Poison Passion. U.S. District Chief Judge James R. Spencer acknowledged: “Mr. Bailey presents evidence of a valid copyright for his 'Poison Passion' screenplay from 1992. He also presents evidence, based on his other attachments, suggesting that he has been in contact with Defendant BET since 2000, incorporated as integral to his Complaint.” But the defendants had put forth a copy of a 1981 New York Times article on the Broadway production of Dreamgirls. Chief Judge Spencer went on to explain: “Defendants note in their Response memorandum that the 2006 motion picture 'Dreamgirls' was based on this Broadway production, and more importantly, the characters briefly described in Plaintiff's Complaint appear to be those described in the newspaper article. ' Bailey has not presented any evidence to rebut Defendants' assertion that the characters and storyline of the 2006 film 'Dreamgirls' that he accuses of infringement were the same characters created for the Broadway musical 'Dreamgirls' in 1981, [11] years before Mr. Bailey copyrighted his screenplay.”