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Leno Lawsuit No Joke
Jay Leno has read The Funny Pages, but he isn't laughing.
The Tonight Show host joined up Wednesday with NBC Studios in a lawsuit against the editor and publishers of 19 joke books, compilations that allegedly ripped off material from Leno's show and standup acts, as well as borrowed from the repertoires of various other prominent comedians.
The plaintiffs, which also include comics Rita Rudner, Jimmy Brogan and Diane Nichols, and Ronnie Shakes' widow, Sue Pascoe, have accused journalist Judy Brown of stealing "the jokes of the very comedians she was supposed to be writing about" to produce books such as The Funny Pages, Funny You Should Know That, Getting Old Is a Joke and Joke Stew, according to court documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Perhaps you've seen some of them in a nearby bathroom.
Anyway, the charges brought against Brown and several publishing companies include copyright infringement and false endorsement, with Leno & Co. saying that the very fact that the jokes are attributed to the comedians responsible for them proves that Brown's books sold "precisely because they include jokes by famous comedians."
Basically, the lawsuit states, Brown was profiting from doing "no more than alphabetizing Plaintiffs' original works."
"We think there's a very important principle at stake—protecting intellectual property of the comedians," plaintiffs attorney Theodore Bourtous Jr. told the Associated Press. "These jokes are products of a very careful choice of words."
Brown is also accused in the complaint of sending representatives to watch and record comedians' acts in order to transcribe the material for her books, and of soliciting lesser-known comics by telling them their names will be linked to their more famous counterparts.
Andrews McMeel Publishing denied the AP's request for comment and calls to Sterling Publishing Co. and Rowman & Littlefield Inc. were not returned.
Leno, Rudner and the others are seeking unspecified damages, attorneys fees and a permanent injunction against any further publication, sale or distribution of the 19 books. They are also looking to stop the release of a new book slated for March 2007, The Best Damn Sports Jokes. (Which also sounds like the title of an existing TV show, but that's for Fox Sports to decide.)
NBC is on board because any jokes featured on The Tonight Show qualify as the studio's property. Each episode shot since 1992, when Leno took over fulltime, has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
The lawsuit also points to an acknowledgment Brown wrote, saying "I hafta thank the comedians and other succinct wits whose words, and the specific way they arrange them, make up this book." According to court documents, this is further proof that, without the comics, who were not compensated for their joke-writing efforts, there would be no books (and no dollar dollar bills, y'all).
Big names featured in Browns' books include Leno, Rudner, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Lucille Ball, Tim Allen, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, Bill Maher and Adam Sandler.
Meanwhile, Leno and NBC have said that any money they are awarded will go straight to a good cause.
"Jay has, in the past, compiled such material in books and donated his proceeds from those sales to various charitable organizations," the studio said in a statement. "Jay and NBC Studios intend to donate any amounts they recover in this lawsuit to charity."
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