By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Hollywood's Universal
Studios has filed a copyright lawsuit against a porn production
company, accusing it of lifting language, characters and plot
from the best-selling erotic book trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey"
for its own adult films and sex toys.
Calling one of the adult movie adaptations of the British
novel "a rip-off plain and simple," Universal's lawsuit seeks to
stop sales of copycat porn movies and to recoup any profits they
earn.
"Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James and its two sequels
have sold more than 40 million copies since first being
published in 2011. Universal bought the rights for a film
adaptation earlier this year for a reported $5 million.
The suit was filed jointly in federal court in California on
Tuesday by Universal and James's British company which owns the
copyright to the novels.
The lawsuit said that Los Angeles-based based Smash Pictures
had produced a movie called "Fifty Shades of Grey: a XXX
Adaptation" which lifted "exact dialogue, characters, events,
story, and style from the 'Fifty Shades' trilogy."
"The first XXX adaptation is not a parody, and it does not
comment on, criticize, or ridicule the originals. It is a
rip-off, plain and simple," the lawsuit added.
Smash Pictures could not be reached for comment.
Universal said Smash Pictures had two subsequent movies in
production and that one of its subsidiaries had also launched a
"Play Kit" of kinky sex toys called "Fifty Shades of Pleasure."
The lawsuit seeks an injunction, unspecified damages, and
profits from sales of the movies, which its says are trademark
and copyright infringements.
Universal Studios is a unit of Comcast Corp.
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