NBC Universal argued in court papers filed on May 27 that the studio played no role in the creation of a screenplay that tells the story of the formation of the British MI6 intelligence agency and should not be held liable for alleged infringement of James Bond copyrights.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Bond producers Danjaq LLC sued NBC Universal last month, alleging the Section 6 screenplay – which Universal acquired after a reported bidding war with rival studios – is a 007 knockoff.
“This lawsuit concerns a motion picture project, in active development, featuring a daring, tuxedo-clad British agent, employed by ‘His Majesty’s Secret Service,’ with a ‘license to kill’ and a 00 (double-0) secret agent number on a mission to save England from the diabolical plot of a megalomaniacal villain,” according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court.
In a dismissal motion scheduled to be argued before a federal judge next month, NBC Universal attorneys maintain that the “needless” complaint was brought “in an effort to claim an unfounded monopoly on the British spy genre, and to scare away Universal and any other would-be competitors to James Bond.”
MGM/Danjaq seek a court order halting the alleged infringement and unspecified damages.
Section 6, to star British actor Jack O’Connell, “misappropriates from the James Bond works far beyond the signature aspects of James Bond” and copies “nearly every aspect of the characters, plots dialogue, themes, setting, mood and other key elements of the copyrighted James Bond literary works and motion pictures,” according to the suit, which names screenwriter Aaron Berg as a co-defendant.
