Judge Finds J Lo's 'South Beach' Not A Ripoff

Posted by Matthew Heller

Writer Jack Bunick's script for the pilot of a TV show called "South Beach Miami" and the UPN show "South Beach," executive produced by Jennifer Lopez, are both about two young men leaving gritty New York for the glamor and decadence of Miami. Beyond that idea, however, there are no "striking similarities" between the two works, a New York judge has ruled in dismissing Bunick's copyright infringement suit.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman noted in this summary judgment decision that even the plaintiff's expert,  UCLA screenwriting professor Lew Hunter, "opined that 'there are numerous points of dissimilarity' between the plots and subplots in Plaintiff's script and Defendants' television show." In his own deposition, Bunick admitted that his script included generic ideas and commonplace elements and aspects of the South Beach club and modeling scene.

The issue of access did not favor Bunick, either. There was evidence that a UPN development executive, Robin Gurney, received his script but she denied passing it on to the creators of "South Beach."

"Did you have any involvement of any kind ... with the development of the UPN show 'South Beach'?" she was asked in her deposition.

"No," she replied.