Jury sides with Indian-origin filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and Apple in copyright lawsuit over ‘Servant’

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A federal jury ruled in favor of M. Night Shyamalan and Apple on Friday, bringing an end to a copyright trial in which the defendants were accused of copying elements from an independent film in the creation of the streaming series Servant.

The seven-day trial, which began on January 14 in Riverside, California, saw Italian-born director Francesca Gregorini seeking up to $81 million in damages. She alleged that Shyamalan and his collaborators had taken narrative elements from her 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel without credit.

Gregorini’s film revolves around a delusional mother who treats a baby doll as a real infant, with a nanny who supports her false reality. She claimed there were significant similarities between her film and Servant, particularly in terms of plot.

Shyamalan testified that neither he nor his team had seen Gregorini’s film before the lawsuit, calling the accusation “clearly, 100%, a misunderstanding.” He added, as quoted by Variety, “This accusation is the exact opposite of everything I do and everything I try to represent. I would have never allowed it. None of the people that I work with would ever do anything like that.”

Gregorini, in her testimony, said she was “shocked” upon seeing the Servant trailer and felt her film had been stolen. She pointed to scenes in Servant, such as the nanny treating the doll as real when alone and another where the nanny faints, which she believed were taken from her film. Gregorini also shared the career challenges she faced after being advised not to sue, but said she wanted to take a stand against industry theft.

The defense countered, noting significant differences between the two works, emphasizing that Servant was a supernatural thriller, while The Truth About Emanuel was a coming-of-age drama. Shyamalan, when questioned about the allegedly copied elements, argued that many of the scenes in question—such as a character fainting—were not unique, citing classic films like Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Notorious.

The jury was shown Gregorini’s film and the first three episodes of Servant, as well as expert testimony on filmmaking and Apple’s finances.

This verdict concludes a five-year legal battle that began in 2020, shortly after Servant premiered on Apple TV+. While a federal judge initially dismissed the case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in 2022, prompting the trial after determining that the two works might be “substantially similar”.

(Photo courtesy: www.instagram.com/mnight)

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