Spike Lee and Showtime settle copyright lawsuit.

Louisville, KY: (May-27-08) James Lee White, a Louisville writer, brought a lawsuit against Spike Lee and the Showtime cable channel, alleging that Lee illegally used his script to create "Sucker Free City," which was shown on Showtime. He suit alleged intellectual property infringement, stating that Lee and writer Alex Tse infringed on his copyright when they created "Sucker Free City" after reading and rejecting White's script, "Mixed Up." The suit was filed after White claimed he had discovered similarities to his "Mixed Up" script after renting the DVD of "Sucker Free City" in 2006. Court papers reveal that the suit claims more than 85 similarities to White's script, which he had registered with the Writers Guild of America four years earlier.

Sources familiar with the negotiations stated that the parties had reached a settlement in the copyright dispute, though the terms of the agreement were not disclosed. White and the others only went on record stating that the settlement was satisfactory to all members. White's lawsuit did not specify what compensation he was seeking. However White said he wanted to be paid according to Writers Guild standards, which range from about $50,000 up to $1 million or more.

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Published on May-30-08