Copyright suit against Apple and director Shyamalan given green light

A US federal appeals court has reinstated copyright litigation against Apple and well-known director M Night Shyamalan in a case involving two productions that both featured a grieving mother who hired a babysitter to take care of what turned out to be a doll.

Francesca Gregorini – who had written, directed and produced 2013’s The Truth About Emanuel – had sued Apple, Shyamalan and others in connection with the Apple+ television series Servant, charging copyright infringement. Shyamalan is an executive producer on Servant.

As first reported in our sister publication Business Insurance, the complaint, which was originally filed in the US District Court in Pasadena, California back in January 2020, said Emanuel was about an 18-year-old girl hired as a babysitter to take care of a bogus baby. “Shockingly, this plot description of Emanuel could just as easily be applied to Servant, made six years later,” the complaint states.

“These similarities include not just parallel plot points but also strikingly similar — and highly idiosyncratic – characters, scenes, directorial choices and modes of storytelling… Plaintiff easily describes more than sufficient similarity to establish copyright infringement,” it adds.

In their motion to dismiss the complaint, the defendants say that both the film and television series “employ aspects of… unprotectable concepts”, including a grieving mother. But they argue there is a fundamental difference and that in Emanuel there is “a quintessential American teenager struggling to cope with the loss of her mother”, while Servant involves “a deeply religious self-flagellating young woman” who leaves her cult “and seemingly transforms a doll into a real baby”.

The three-judge appeals court panel ruled that the District Court’s dismissal of the case at the pleading stage was improper.

“In particular, expert testimony would aid the court in objectively evaluating similarities in cinematic techniques, distinguishing creative elements from scènes à faire, determining the extent and qualitative importance of similar elements between the works, and comparing works in the different mediums of film and television,” it said.

Attorneys in the case did not respond to requests for comment.

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