NEW YORK, NY — Gay producer Lucas Entertainment announced that it has won the court battle started by the purported owner of Federico Fellini’s film "La Dolce Vita."
In February 2007, International Media Films (IMF) filed a lawsuit against Lucas Entertainment, Inc., alleging that Lucas Entertainment's pornographic film Michael Lucas' "La Dolce Vita" violated IMF's claimed copyright in Fellini's movie and associated trademarks.
IMF and its purported President, Alfredo Leone, demanded unspecified damages and statutory damages. IMF subsequently sought an injunction against distribution of Michael Lucas' movie but the Court ruled against IMF, allowing Lucas Entertainment to continue distribution and sales of its film.
The company said that after a three-year court battle, the Judge yesterday dismissed IMF's entire lawsuit. "In a long and carefully reasoned order, Judge Koeltl of the United States District Court in Manhattan concluded that the "plaintiff has failed to show that it has sufficient admissible evidence from which a reasonable fact finder could conclude that it was the copyright owner of the Fellini film.”
Lucas said the court ruled that IMF lacks credible documentation of its chain of title, stating: "In fact, it is possible for the Fellini film to be in the public domain." The court dismissed IMF's case without needing to address Lucas Entertainment's other arguments.
“I’m proud that my company won a case of such magnitude,” said Lucas Entertainment President/CEO Michael Lucas. “We believed strongly that we hadn't done anything wrong even before we learned, through the meticulous, extensive and expensive fieldwork of our lawyers, that IMF doesn't even own the movie it went to court over. Of course I can only guess at my opponents' motivations, but if they thought that they could get a quick payday by walking all over a porn company, they were sorely mistaken. I am very proud that my company had the professionalism, the quality legal advice and the financial resources to stand up to this bullying.”
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