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Litigation Over Skater Girl Film Transferred to CA

By Cedra Mayfield
November 01, 2021

When Atlanta filmmaker-turned-plaintiff Raymond Pirtle Jr. filed a copyright infringement suit against California-based Netflix Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, he opted to represent himself. But that pitted him against seasoned attorneys, representing a corporate giant in a case that has both sides claiming early incremental victories. Pirtle v. Netflix Inc., 1:2021cv02096.

Pirtle's complaint alleged the Netflix film Skater Girl infringed on his independent film, Sk8r Grrl. But his case has been tossed out of the Peach State, thanks to a technicality his legal adversaries said they anticipated as part of an ongoing trend. "It's a classic case of civil procedure," said Jonathan Goins, Atlanta partner and co-chair of Lewis Brisbois' intellectual property and technology group. "It follows a trend of where a lot of cases are going when it comes to suing a corporate entity. You have to sue an entity either where they're incorporated or where they have a principal place of business. That speaks to general personal jurisdiction."

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