‘Cosby Show’ Producer Sues BBC Over Unauthorized Clips In Bill Cosby Film
Carsey-Werner Company, the producer of The Cosby Show, has filed a lawsuit against BBC for allegedly using too much-copyrighted material in a documentary titled Bill Cosby: Fall of an American Icon.
The lawsuit was launched in California federal court Friday against BBC and Sugar Films Limited, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to the complaint, Fall included 8 audiovisual clips (one of which appears 3 times) and 2 music cues from The Cosby Show. Carsey-Werners permission for such use of the Clips and the Cues was neither sought nor given. The total cumulative running time of the Infringed Works is 234 seconds, which represents 6.5% of the total running time of Fall.â
Fall was first broadcast last June, around the time that star Bill Cosby stood trial for allegedly raping Andrea Constand in 2004. The documentary was then made available online.
Carsey-Werner alleges defendants willfully infringed copyrights and points to how the clips were shown in Fall over a caption reading The Cosby Show â Carsey-Werner Company/Bill Cosby.
The plaintiff also says the day that âFallâ was broadcast, it sent a warning to BBC that the documentary shouldnât be rebroadcast, which it later was.
BBC and Sugar Films sought to profit directly from the use of the copyrighted material without having to pay a license fee to Carsey-Werner by using the inherent entertainment value of The Cosby Show to entertain viewers,â alleges the complaint being handled by attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs.
âIf they had wanted to draw The Cosby Show to viewersâ attention simply in order to create a reference point, Defendants could have done so without using copyrighted material. Instead, they deliberately used the Clips on 10 separate occasions, no doubt because they knew that showing such a large number of clips from this famous show would appeal to viewers. The Cues further seek to capitalize on The Cosby Showâs popularity.â
Like BlackAmericaWeb.com on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
[ione_media_gallery id=”2982″ overlay=”true”]
Sign Up For Our Newsletter!
(AP Photo/File)
