Contributing to a growing body of authority in the Southern District of New York dismissing copyright claims for lack of similarity as a matter of law, Judge Vernon Broderick granted a motion filed by Pryor Cashman seeking to dismiss infringement claims in Montgomery v. Holland et al on September 30, 2019. In the case, plaintiff Wilhelmina Montgomery alleged that a miniseries adaptation of the classic horror novel Rosemary's Baby starring Zoe Saldana, which originally aired on NBC in 2014 and was later available on Netflix, copied elements of two of Montgomery's short stories. The complaint named Lions Gate Entertainment, Netflix, NBCUniversal, as well as the writers, producers, and director of the miniseries as defendants.
While the Court declined to consider the critically-acclaimed 1967 Rosemary's Baby novel or 1968 film in its analysis, holding that these works were relevant to acts of copying rather than substantial similarity, it did conclude that there was no actionable similarity between the 2014 miniseries and the plaintiff's short stories, and dismissed the case with prejudice. The Court explained in its 39-page decision that while the "works indisputably bear a handful of superficial similarities," they "differ in nearly every relevant way" so that after filtering out unprotectable copyright elements, no ordinary person would regard them as substantially similar.
The defendants were represented by partner Tom Ferber and counsel Ross Bagley. The decision is available here.
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