"Fifty Shades of Grey" porn lawsuit settled

By Tim Kenneally

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The people behind "50 Shades of Grey" and porn video company Smash Pictures have come to a mutually pleasing arrangement.

Fifty Shades Limited - the company that owns the rights to E. L. James' steamy mommy-porn "Fifty Shades" book trilogy - and Universal City Studios have reached a settlement with porn company Smash Pictures and other entities, in a lawsuit filed over the porn video "Fifty Shades of Grey: A XXX Adaptation," as well as an accompanying "play kit" consisting of various erotic accouterments.

The suit says that the settlement was reached upon "payment of a confidential sum by Smash Pictures to Plaintiffs and upon entry by the Court of a Stipulated Judgment for Permanent Injunction with respect to Plaintiffs' claims for copyright and trademark infringement."

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Central California in November, Fifty Shades Limited and Universal City Studios claimed that "Fifty Shades of Grey: A XXX Adaptation" was virtually a beat-by-beat knockoff of the "Fifty Shades" books, from the dialog to the storylines, and even the main characters' names, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.

The similarities went beyond the scope of parody that typically protects porn knockoffs of mainstream material on First Amendment grounds, the suit argued.

"The First XXX Adaptation is not a parody, and it does not comment on, criticize, or ridicule the originals. It is a rip-off, plain and simple," the suit read.

The lawsuit also named director James Lane and the company Luv Moves.

Universal - which is producing a big-screen adaptation of the book trilogy - and Smash Pictures had no comment for TheWrap on the settlement.

(Pamela Chelin contributed to this report)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fifty-shades-grey-porn-lawsuit-settled-170058471.html

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