Posted: 11/29/16 at 11:36am
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2016/11/29/jury-reaches-verdict-in-jersey-boys-copyright-case/#5c80be0d54ba
Does anyone want to take a guess on the amount of damages?
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:00pm
Tommy screws them again!! Crazy!
10% though, is a hell of a lot.
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:02pm
Thanks for sharing. The article is very difficult to parse, with much of the important information at the end rather than the beginning... but here's what I got out of it ...
Woodard (The co-writer of DeVito's book)'s widow sued Des McAnuff, Marshall Brickman, and Rick Elice for copying bits of Tommy DeVito's unpublished autobiography in their book for Jersey Boys.
The jury decided that Jersey Boys does in fact infringe on the copyright of the widow of Rex Woodard, with the judge noting 11 specific examples?
Updated On: 11/29/16 at 12:02 PM
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:07pm
I was wondering if this case was still going on.
For deeper reading: https://casetext.com/case/corbello-v-devito-26
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:08pm
tkx said: "http://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2016/11/29/jury-reaches-verdict-in-jersey-boys-copyright-case/#5c80be0d54ba
Does anyone want to take a guess on the amount of damages?
"
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:43pm
Thanks, Lizzie.
I guess the answer to this will be in that document, but if DeVito provided the manuscript to the writing team, did they try to argue that that gave them the right to use it and failed?
Updated On: 11/29/16 at 12:43 PM
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:53pm
I wonder if there was even a verbal agreement of some kind. Where one day he just casually said "oh, it's all in my book, just take a look at that."
Posted: 11/29/16 at 12:56pm
nasty_khakis said: "I wonder if there was even a verbal agreement of some kind. Where one day he just casually said "oh, it's all in my book, just take a look at that.""
Yeah, that's what it seems like to me too.
Updated On: 11/29/16 at 12:56 PM
Posted: 11/29/16 at 1:50pm
Interestingly, Christian Hoff once mentioned his role of Tommy DeVito was written specifically for him in La Jolla. He speculated this helped him win the Tony.
Updated On: 11/29/16 at 01:50 PM
Posted: 11/29/16 at 1:56pm
None of the original cast really came to their full, huh? Hoffa was such a big deal at the time.
Posted: 11/29/16 at 2:04pm
so they're saying they infringed on the copyright of the deceased author even though he didn't have the copyright for the book until after his widow saw the show? that seems strange
Posted: 11/29/16 at 2:10pm
"so they're saying they infringed on the copyright of the deceased author even though he didn't have the copyright for the book until after his widow saw the show? that seems strange"
I'm no lawyer, and I just skimmed the brief linked above, but it seems like DeVito purposely screwed Woodard out of the credit for the book. They have the draft of the book with the named authors of DeVito & Woodard, and the subsequent draft that just names DeVito and apparently the content is the same.
Posted: 11/29/16 at 5:05pm
Yes. The case does not present DeVito in the most favorable light.
Posted: 11/29/16 at 5:50pm
ahhh, i must have missed that when i read the article that DeVito swindled the deceased author. good for that widow then!
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