KHIKS partners Michael Kump and Greg Korn represented all defendants in a copyright infringement action filed in 2013 by a screenwriter who claimed the motion picture Elysium starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster infringed the copyright in his screenplay.
KHIKS represented longtime client MRC, the financier and producer of the film, along with Neill Blomkamp, the Oscar-nominated writer/director of the hit film District 9 who wrote and directed Elysium, and a major motion picture studio that distributed the film, among others. On October 3, 2014, United States District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the Northern District of California issued a 32-page ruling granting KHIKS’s motion for summary judgment and denying the screenwriter’s motion for summary judgment.
The Court found that “while there might be some superficial similarities between the two works, a close examination of the screenplay and the film reveals many significant differences and few real similarities among the protectable elements.” Based on its ruling, the Court entered judgment in favor of defendants and dismissed the action.
