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May 26, 2012

David Chase in court over The Sopranos

by Brad Trechak, posted Dec 13th 2007 8:00AM

The SopranosCreating a story about a crime family wasn't enough. Now, David Chase is accused of being a criminal; he supposedly stole plotlines from a retired judge and used them on The Sopranos.

According to Chase's testimony, he offered the former judge, Robert Baer, compensation back in 1995 before the show hit the airwaves. Baer refused payment. Baer changed his mind around 2002 when he filed the lawsuit (coincidentally, the show was already a big hit). As an additional note, the lawsuit has already been dismissed twice and the dismissal was overturned each time.

Personally, I see this as an example of someone trying to cash in on someone else's fame and money. This reminds me of when that author sued J.K. Rowling for using the word "Muggle" in her books. At what point do ideas become intellectual property?

This is yet another frivolous lawsuit in our system. While I don't know the details of the case, I hope Baer doesn't win it. He can't prove his statements and there is that whole pesky "innocent until proven guilty" thing. Of course, if Baer had tried the same thing with Tony Soprano, he'd have been whacked already.

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Joey Geraci

Uhm, maybe it's just me, but if Chase offered him money, and the guy refused, how does that give Chase the right to use the ideas. Chase obviously thought they had value if he was going to offer money in the first place. I would agree with you on the lack of merit if it weren't for that initial offer of money.

December 14 2007 at 12:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
uagent

Couple of points:
Bad news:
a)There is no assumption of innocence in a civil suit. You have to fight just as hard to prove your innocence as the other guy has to prove you're guilty.
Good news:
b)Ideas aren't open for copyright, only the expression of those ideas.

I would like to see how long this suit lasts though, if it's already been tossed out twice, I don't really think the 3rd time's the charm...

Now, if the guy could somehow prove his statements, Chase'd be in deep, since he would've essentially willfully infringed on a copyright (just because someone doesn't agree to let you pay them to use their work, doesn't mean you can). Of course, if Baer were able to do that, this case probably would've been decided in his favor by now...

December 13 2007 at 9:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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