Leno Settles Joke-Book Lawsuit
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WENN.com
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
HOLLYWOOD - Talk-show host Jay Leno has been awarded "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in damages after books of his jokes were published without his permission.
The Tonight with Jay Leno host, along with NBC Studios and a handful of other comedians, sued comedy author Judy Brown and her publishers for including their gags in a series of books.
The federal copyright infringement lawsuit, which also named Rita Rudner, Jimmy Brogan, Diane Nichols, Sue Pascoe, Kathleen Madigan and Bob Ettinger as affected parties, claimed Brown collected thousands of jokes that appeared in 19 books over 10 years, without the permission of the writers.
In a statement, Leno insisted jokes must fall under copyright laws.
He said, "I thought it was important to make it clear that jokes are protected like any other art form."
The suit has now been settled out of court with Brown and her publishers agreeing to pay compensation, stop producing the joke book and make all efforts to remove existing copies from stores.
Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., an attorney representing the comedians and NBC, refused to disclose the exact financial details but revealed the settlement would add up to "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
He also confirmed that Leno, Rudner and NBC will all donate their settlement portions to charity and his law firm will also contribute a percentage of its fees.
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