Twilight Saga: The Documentary Wars

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February 10, 2010

Jeanette Lee

Twilight Saga: The Documentary Wars

The war of the Twilight documentary films is on, and producers who shop their film concepts around to distributors may be thinking twice about what more they can do to protect their hatchling ideas. It has been reported that Summit Entertainment LLC has filed a complaint against Topics Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. District Court (California) over Topics' documentary film: "Forks: Bitten by Twilight." Summit is the producer and distributor of the Twilight series of films (Twilight, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon), based on the Twilight series of books by author Stephanie Meyer. Summit is also the exclusive licensee of the documentary film "Twilight in Forks: The Saga of the Real Town," produced by Westend Entertainment, LLC dba Hecklesville Media, LLC, and which Summit refers to as an authorized documentary. The Summit/Hecklesville documentary is about Forks, Washington and other locales in the Pacific Northwest that are featured in the Twilight films. It explores the relationship between the locales and the films, and its cover features an image of moonlit trees. The Topics documentary film also appears to be about Forks, Washington, also has a cover featuring an image of moonlit trees, and a quotation attributed to author Stephanie Meyer. Summit claims the quotation was used on the Topics DVD cover without Ms. Meyer's permission.

According to the complaint, the Summit/Hecklesville documentary, and the Twilight: New Moon DVD, are set for release on March 20, 2010. Summit alleges that Topics is already selling its unauthorized documentary on DVD to U.S. retailers, for a public release date of March 16, 2010. Summit claims that Topics rushed its documentary release date to coincide with Summit's release date. Notable claims in Summit's complaint include:

- Topics only decided to film its documentary after meeting with Hecklesville, discussing in detail the contents of Hecklesville's proposed documentary, viewing Hecklesville's documentary one sheet summary and mockup cover, then not being given the right to acquire Hecklesville's documentary.

- unauthorized use of the TWILIGHT trademark, and a cover confusingly or substantially similar to that of the authorized documentary, which has already and is likely to result in further confusion

- copyright infringement in the Twilight motion pictures (i.e. unauthorized preparation of derivative works from those motion pictures), the authorized documentary cover and/or authorized documentary, and the original (mockup) documentary cover.

The complaint alleges false designation of origin, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, copyright infringement and unfair competition. Summit has demanded a trial by jury.

Jeanette practices in the areas of intellectual property, marketing/advertising, technology and entertainment law with the firm of Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP. Her practice has an emphasis on intellectual property acquisition and protection, film and television production, licensing, publishing, brand strategy and leveraging, advertising and marketing compliance and privacy issues.
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Figuring Out Your Place in the Race: What Kind of Law Firm Do You Want to Be? «« older \| newer »» Class Actions Against Law Firms on the Horizon February 10, 2010 Jeanette Lee Twilight Saga: The Documentary Wars The war of the Twilight documentary films is on, and producers who shop their film concepts around to distributors may be thinking twice about what more they can do to protect their hatchling ideas. It has been reported that Summit Entertainment LLC has filed a complaint against Topics Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. District Court (California) over Topics' documentary film: "Forks: Bitten by Twilight." Summit is the producer and distributor of the Twilight series of films (Twilight, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon), based on the Twilight series of books by author Stephanie Meyer. Summit is also the exclusive licensee of the documentary film "Twilight in Forks: The Saga of the Real Town," produced by Westend Entertainment, LLC dba Hecklesville Media, LLC, and which Summit refers to as an authorized documentary. The Summit/Hecklesville documentary is about Forks, Washington and other locales in the Pacific Northwest that are featured in the Twilight films. It explores the relationship between the locales and the films, and its cover features an image of moonlit trees. The Topics documentary film also appears to be about Forks, Washington, also has a cover featuring an image of moonlit trees, and a quotation attributed to author Stephanie Meyer. Summit claims the quotation was used on the Topics DVD cover without Ms. Meyer's permission. According to the complaint, the Summit/Hecklesville documentary, and the Twilight: New Moon DVD, are set for release on March 20, 2010. Summit alleges that Topics is already selling its unauthorized documentary on DVD to U.S. retailers, for a public release date of March 16, 2010. Summit claims that Topics rushed its documentary release date to coincide with Summit's release date. Notable claims in Summit's complaint include: - Topics only decided to film its documentary after meeting with Hecklesville, discussing in detail the contents of Hecklesville's proposed documentary, viewing Hecklesville's documentary one sheet summary and mockup cover, then not being given the right to acquire Hecklesville's documentary. - unauthorized use of the TWILIGHT trademark, and a cover confusingly or substantially similar to that of the authorized documentary, which has already and is likely to result in further confusion - copyright infringement in the Twilight motion pictures (i.e. unauthorized preparation of derivative works from those motion pictures), the authorized documentary cover and/or authorized documentary, and the original (mockup) documentary cover. The complaint alleges false designation of origin, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, copyright infringement and unfair competition. Summit has demanded a trial by jury. Jeanette practices in the areas of intellectual property, marketing/advertising, technology and entertainment law with the firm of Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP. Her practice has an emphasis on intellectual property acquisition and protection, film and television production, licensing, publishing, brand strategy and leveraging, advertising and marketing compliance and privacy issues. [click on the author's name for more information] Respond: make a comment Share: Email \| Save as PDF \| Print \| Bookmark & Share \| \| More: in Substantive Law \| from Jeanette Lee Comments are closed.		searching comments Slawtips case summaries TalkLaw/ParLoi noted on Slaw categories SlawNET search Slaw: the count: 8231 posts \| 11417 comments Slaw's canadian law blogs search: [get this search box for your site] recent comments David Cheifetz on New Slaw Columnists: Kevin O'Keefe, Sam Muller, Judith Gaskell m. diane kindree on Motion to Debate Personhood of Unborn Tabled in Parliament but Going Nowhere David Cheifetz on Thoughts on the LegalTech 2012 Conference (And Some iPad Apps for Lawyers) Simon Chester on SCC Confirms That ISPs Are Not Broadcasters Luke on A Judicial Finger Wag Bart Cormier on Tips for Reducing Procrastination in Your Practice Suzanne Thomas on Tips for Reducing Procrastination in Your Practice Mitch Kowalski on Thoughts on the LegalTech 2012 Conference (And Some iPad Apps for Lawyers) David Cheifetz on Motion to Debate Personhood of Unborn Tabled in Parliament but Going Nowhere David Cheifetz on Factual Causation: Here We Go … Again? 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[…] »» Research Use join.me to Get on the Same Page Across the Web Wednesday, February 8 When you need to collaborate on a document displayed on your screen, it’s great to have a colleague from down the hall come into your office and look over your … »» Technology noted on Slaw Statistics Canada, The Daily, Women in Canada Available online today are four new chapters of the publication Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, which explores the socio-demographic and economic circumstances of Canadian women in general. Library Boy: Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill on Adding New House of Commons Seats The bill amends the Constitution Act, 1867 by readjusting the number of members and the representation of the provinces in the House of Commons. Judges out of touch on privacy issues, says Ontario privacy czar Ars Technica: Law & Disorder: Startup hopes to hack the immigration system with a floating incubator Blueseed plans to buy a ship and turn it into a floating incubator anchored in international waters off the coast of California. An open letter to Canadian journalists - CAJ Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the flow of information out of Ottawa has slowed to a trickle. EXCESS COPYRIGHT: Fair Dealing Cases in the Supreme Court of Canada - December 6 and 7, 2011 - Links to Factums Ontario Commissioner Issues Significant Order on Custody or Control of University Records « All About Information "…the IPC has exclusive jurisdiction to decide whether a record is in the custody or control of a university in the context of an access request…" Library Boy: Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill To Abolish Firearms Registry Federation of Law Societies of Canada John J.L. Hunter, Q.C. of Vancouver has been elected President for 2011-2012 Results of BC CBA Survey on Supreme Court Civil Rules [PDF] Detailed results from 321 members. MLB Selected Case Summaries These summaries of selected recent cases are provided each week to Slaw by Maritime Law Book. More information. McGowan v. Bank of Nova Scotia 2011 PECA 20 Banks and Banking - Liability of banks to third parties - Negligence - General The plaintiffs were the former shareholders of a company that failed. They sued the defendant bank alleging that it breached its contract with the company and the plaintiffs and breached a duty ... Jones v. Tsige 2012 ONCA 32 Actions - Cause of action - General principles - New or extended cause of action - Opening of floodgates The plaintiff and defendant worked at different branches of the same bank. The defendant’s common-law husband was the plaintiff’s ex-husband. Over a four year period, the defendant ... Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants v. 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The Ontario Court of Appeal allowed ... R. v. Parker (T.) 2011 ONCA 819 Narcotic Control - Offences - Possession - General The accused wished to access marijuana for medicinal purposes but did not have an authorization to possess marijuana issued under the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations. He was notified that a package of marihuana addressed to him had been ... R. v. McCrady (R.C.) 2011 ONCA 820 Narcotic Control - General - Legislation - Exemptions - Medicinal marijuana McCrady, who had an application pending under the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) to possess and grow marijuana, was convicted of possession of marijuana (Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), s. 4(1)). Hearn pleaded guilty ... R. v. Maloney (S.W.) 2011 ONCA 821 Criminal Law - Sentence - Trafficking in hashish or marijuana (incl. possession for purposes of trafficking) The accused pleaded guilty to one count of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. 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Twilight Saga: The Documentary Wars

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