{"id":116429,"date":"2017-09-06T06:38:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T10:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=116429"},"modified":"2017-09-06T06:38:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T10:38:08","slug":"filmmakers-defiant-over-lynyrd-skynyrd-film-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/06\/filmmakers-defiant-over-lynyrd-skynyrd-film-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmakers defiant over Lynyrd Skynyrd film rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Trade<\/a>
Trade ad for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s single “Gimme Three Steps”. To better adapt it to his respective Wikipedia article, the ad was cropped and cleaned in a graphics editing program. The original can be viewed at the source below. (Photo By MCA Records – Billboard, page 11, 24 Nov 1973, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK — A judge’s finding that a new Lynyrd Skynyrd film violates a \u201cblood oath\u201d made by the band to not exploit the group’s name following a fatal plane crash hasn’t stopped the film’s creators from threatening to distribute the film.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the filmmakers say in court papers that they can distribute \u201cStreet Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash\u201d to \u201canyone and everyone in the world\u201d until the judge formally says otherwise. The film was made with input from a former drummer with the pioneering 1970s southern rock band whose hits included \u201cSweet Home Alabama\u201d and \u201cFree Bird.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet in Manhattan recently ruled that the widow of lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant and others, including founding band member Allen Collins, had shown that the film violates a nearly three-decade-old court-approved agreement aimed at preventing exploitation of the band’s name and history. Van Zant died in an October 1977 plane crash in Mississippi.<\/p>\n

After the ruling, attorney Evan Mandel, representing Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Records Inc. and Cleopatra Films, said Sweet’s ruling did not specify what Cleopatra is prohibited from doing with the film, meaning Cleopatra is \u201cunder no obligation to refrain from distributing the film to anyone and everyone in the world.\u201d Mandel has said he will seek \u201cimmediate relief\u201d from an appeals court.<\/p>\n

In papers filed Monday, lawyers for Van Zant’s widow and other plaintiffs asked the judge to ban Cleopatra from distributing the motion picture or anything related to it and to order that the film be destroyed within weeks of a final judgment. They also asked that the judge require the defendants to pay at least $634,000 in attorney fees.<\/p>\n

Last week, the lawyers responded to Mandel’s claim that the film could be distributed to anyone, saying doing so would be in contempt of court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe disagree with the assertions made in the — to put it mildly — brazen letter of Mr. Mandel,\u201d attorney Richard G. Haddad wrote.<\/p>\n

The judge has given the lawyers for the filmmakers until Friday to say what they think a judgment from the court should say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK — A judge’s finding that a new Lynyrd Skynyrd film violates a \u201cblood oath\u201d made by the band …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":116432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[23090],"class_list":["post-116429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-lynyrd-skynyrd","mauthors-larry-neumeister","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}