March 2010
U.S. Sergeant Sues Makers of The Hurt Locker Movie
Master Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the makers of The Hurt Locker claiming that the main character has been based on him and he that he is therefore entitled to a share of its profits and for his name to be added to the credits.
The film recently received 6 Oscars at the 2010 Oscars including one for Best Original Screenplay, written by Mark Boal.
Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver claims Mark Boal who had been interviewing American troops in Iraq had spent some time with his unit and that the subsequent screenplay created was based on real life incidents involving him. He is in addition claiming that he came up with the phrase “the hurt locker”.
Summit Entertainment, the distributors of the film, have released a statement denying the allegations made by Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver and reiterating that the film has been based on a fictional screenplay written by Mark Boal.
BRIFFA comment
It is likely to be an uphill battle for Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver to substantiate his entitlement to a share of the film’s profits.
The main thrust of Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver’s claim appears to be based on the law of Defamation i.e. that the film portrays him in a way which is likely to harm his reputation. However, in order to be successful with such claim in the U.S. he must prove 1) people watching the film would identify the character in the film as him and 2) the portrayal of him in the film has caused him damage.
It is unlikely that Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver will have any claim to any of the intellectual property rights in the film. The screenplay created by Mark Boal is protected by copyright law as a literary work and owned by him as author. In order for Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver to have any rights in such screenplay he would have to demonstrate that he has contributed to such work as joint author.
If the screenplay is only loosely based on stories he had told Mark Boal whilst in Iraq this is not sufficient for such claim as it is Mark Boal’s original expression of such stories in his screenplay which warrants Copyright protection.
For more information on the law of Defamation and existence and ownership of copyright and other intellectual property rights in films please do not hesitate to contact one of our specialist intellectual property lawyers via INFO.