John William See v. Christopher Durang and L.A. Stage Company

The district court granted summary judgment for defendants-appellees on the ground that no reasonable person could find any substantial similarity of expression between plaintiff’s “Fear of Acting” and defendant’s “The Actor’s Nightmare.” We affirm.

I.

Summary judgment was appropriate. Plaintiff has cited no authority for the contention that the court must always view a production of the play, rather than relying solely on the script. That course might be desirable where the question of substantial similarity is close, but here it is not. In any event, it was not alleged that defendant copied his play from the revised version of plaintiff’s play, which plaintiff wished to have performed for comparison, but instead from plaintiff’s first draft, which was before the court.

The court properly concluded that judgment should not be deferred to afford plaintiff an opportunity to present evidence at trial that defendant had previously copied another author’s play, which defendant denied. Had the case been tried, the court could have excluded such evidence as minimally relevant and presenting serious problems of delay and confusion.

Summary judgment did not preclude reasonable…