(2018)
Johnson v. Magnolia Pictures LLC
Plaintiff Hillary Johnson brings this action under the Copyright Act against defendants Magnolia Pictures LLC, 3 Faces Films LLC, Motto Pictures, and CNN Films, as well as Michael Radner. Plaintiff claims defendants have infringed her copyrights by using in a commercial film audiotapes of interviews plaintiff conducted of the late actress and comedian Gilda Radner.
Plaintiff, a professional journalist, claims she was hired in 1987 by non party book publisher Simon & Schuster to interview Gilda Radner. Plaintiff allegedly interviewed Ms. Radner and audiotaped the interviews. According to plaintiff, the recorded interviews are “copyrighted works”. Plaintiff claims she at least co-owns the copyrights in the recorded interviews, any excerpts of the recorded interviews, and any derivative works using the recorded interviews.
According to the complaint, defendants used excerpts of the recorded interviews in a film they produced about Ms. Radner entitled “Love, Gilda.”