Forty one years after its release, famous adult film "Deep Throat" is still causing controversy. Days before the film "Lovelace" was scheduled to hit theaters, a biopic about porn star turned anti-porn activist Linda Lovelace, the Weinstein Company and Millennium Films were sued for $10 million.
The production companies were sued over the unauthorized use of footage from the 1972 pornographic film "Deep Throat" by the film's trademark rights owners. Entertainment Weekly reports that it was announced on Wednesday that the "Lovelace" team won the lawsuit.
Arrow Productions, the owners of the legendary porn movie, filed a complaint on Tuesday in a New York City federal court. Arrow Productions claimed that the new film violates copyright law by using "Deep Throat" references and scenes and "Linda Lovelace" without obtaining their permission to do so. Arrow went so far as to ask for a court-ordered injunction to prohibit the film's release.
The plaintiffs claimed that the "Deep Throat" footage included in "Lovelace" was blatantly used without authorization. "More than five minutes of footage in Lovelace are copyrighted material taken from Deep Throat," Arrow argued in the suit. "Defendants use that footage without license or permission. In fact, the title Lovelace derives its market appeal entirely from decades of cultural cache embodied in the trademarked name Linda Lovelace. ... Rather than negotiating licenses for Deep Throat IP, rather than deferring to Arrow's vision for the Deep Throat brand, Defendants have simply taken what they wanted and crossed their fingers."
Entertainment Weekly reports that Arrow contacted Millennium to make them aware of their legal grievances when pre-production details about the film became public in December 2010. At that time, Arrow had licensed "Deep Throat" to a company making another film about Lovelace, titled "Inferno," that was going to star Lindsay Lohan as Lovelace. The project was later abandoned.
Millennium Films President Mark Gill expressed his relief at the final ruling.
"We are relieved that common sense prevailed," Gill said. "The suit was completely unwarranted. We believe this case was an insult to the legal safeguards in place maintaining our right to freedom of speech. It was without merit on every level. Arrow Productions' complaint was transparent about its desire to control discussion about "Deep Throat" - a film they describe as a 'watershed' in American popular culture - and to hinder projects that would compete with theirs. The law does not support either of these motives."
"Lovelace" stars Amanda Seyfried as the iconic porn star along with Adam Brody, James Franco and Sharon Stone.
"Lovelace" will be released nationwide on Friday, August 9.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
