A judge has ruled that two writers must go back to Square One if they wish to re-file claims that Fox's "New Girl" is a copyright infringement of their own work.
In January, Stephanie Counts and Shari Goldsued Fox, William Morris Endeavor, showrunner Liz Meriwether and Executive Producer Peter Chernin for allegedly basing the hit comedy on their proposals for a television show or movie that would have been titled Square One.
The lawsuit claims that Counts and Gold shopped their script through WME and that they once proposed Zooey Deschanel for the lead.
In reaction to the lawsuit, Fox demanded a dismissal, stating in court papers that the "only similarities between the works arise from general, non-protectable ideas," that there were big differences in how the different works treated the underlying concept of a woman who leaves a bad relationship and moves in with three single men.
This week, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson declined to weigh in on the subject of substantial similarity, but only because he was rather confused about what was at issue.
"Much of the parties' arguments surrounding this issue illustrates a more fundamental problem with Plaintiffs' copyright infringement claims: they are ambiguous," he writes.
The judge points out that Counts and Gold have copyright registrations on four versions of Square One, and notes "each of these versions is a separate work which might be infringed by Defendants."
"It is no wonder that Plaintiffs and Defendants disagree about which versions of which works are relevant to Plaintiffs' claim," writes the judge.
"Plaintiffs' infringement claim references four copyrighted versions of Plaintiffs' script, Meriwether's 'Chicks and Dicks' pilot script, Defendants' pilot episode, and Defendants' multiseason television series. It is thus impossible to discern which of Plaintiffs' works was purportedly infringed by which of Defendants' works."
Begging for more clarity and precision, the judge dismisses the complaint without prejudice, meaning it can be brought again.
