Friday the 13th fans have been eagerly awaiting the end of a lawsuit that started over a year ago when producers of the original 1980 film, including director Sean S. Cunningham, filed against writer Victor Miller for franchise rights. The lawsuit has halted the franchise, which stopped another film reboot from moving forward and cancelled the release of any new content for Friday The 13th: The Game.
To sum the lawsuit up, Victor Miller felt that he deserved more compensation for his role in creating the Friday the 13th franchise as a writer on the original screenplay. He looked to take advantage of a US Copyright Act stipulation that allows him to recover rights after the work has been published for at least 35 years. Instead, the producers and the companies which held the rights sued Miller, stating he was work-for-hire and fairly compensated for his portion.
The Friday the 13th lawsuit itself has caused a lot of mixed emotions, from (misdirected) anger towards Miller to fans wanting Miller to be vindicated for his work in such an important franchise. Whichever side you may fall on, I think we can all agree that we really just want to see more of Jason Voorhees. It now looks like we’re one huge step closer to seeing that happen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill has judged in favor of Miller. Portions of the summary judgment opinion states:
“I hold that Miller did not prepare the screenplay as a work for hire and that Miller’s Second Termination Notice validly terminated Horror’s rights to the copyright in the screenplay to Friday the 13th.
In sum, although Cunningham possessed ultimate approval authority over Miller’s output, that fact is consistent with a hiring party’s role in both independent contractor and employment relationships. The simple fact that Cunningham provided direction or supervision is also not dispositive. Although the record points to frequent interaction between Cunningham and Miller, there is little in the record to suggest that such interactions frequently consisted of Cunningham exercising close control over Miller’s work, and there is nothing in the record that suggests Cunningham controlled the details of Miller’s creative expression or otherwise directed the performance of Miller’s daily activities. Despite a lack of detailed control over Miller’s expression or confining control over Miller’s work habits, however, Cunningham’s discussions with Miller and approval authority did broadly affect the aesthetic content of the screenplay.”
Miller will only retain rights in the U.S., not overseas, and there may be more legal battles for trademarks and Jason Voorhees himself. In regards to Jason, Underhill says:
“I also decline to analyze the extent to which Miller can claim copyright in the monstrous ‘Jason’ figure present in sequels to the original film. Horror may very well be able to argue that the Jason character present in later films is distinct from the Jason character briefly present in the first film, and Horror or other participants may be able to stake a claim to have added sufficient independently copyrightable material to Jason in the sequels to hold independent copyright in the adult Jason character. That question is not properly before the court in this case, however.”
It will be interesting to see how everything plays out as the legal process continues. Hopefully, the franchise gets back on track sooner rather than later, giving fans more of what they want.
