Deep Throat copyright claim dismissed

The company responsible for an iconic pornographic film has had a multi-million dollar lawsuit it brought against a 2013 biopic thrown out of court.

Arrow Productions Ltd, the maker of 1970s film Deep Throat, claimed Lovelace, released in 2013, copied three scenes from the original hardcore film.

Lovelace, starring Amanda Seyfried, is a film about the life of Deep Throat actress Linda Lovelace, whose real name was Linda Boreman.

But Arrow’s claims for $10 million were dismissed by judge Thomas Griesa at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday (August 25).

In its original complaint, filed last year, Arrow said there were three scenes that recreated the same camera angles, used the same character positions and used the same dialogue as the original 1972 work.

But Griesa said the new movie was “entitled to a presumption of fair use,” and that its use of the three scenes in question added a “new, critical perspective”.

Griesa added that the new film “did not copy any more than necessary to achieve its creative purposes”.

Claims by Arrow that its trademarks Linda Lovelace and Deep Throat were also infringed by the film were dismissed too.

As well as the film’s distributor, The Weinstein Company, production companies Millennium Films Inc and United Entertainment Inc were also named as defendants.

Lovelace tells the story of the actress, played by Seyfried, her abusive marriage and her work on Deep Throat.

Evan Mandel, a lawyer for Arrow Productions, told Reuters it was reviewing the decision and considering an appeal against the ruling.