Law360 has reported that the High Court recently dismissed a claim that Louis Theroux's production company, Mindhouse Productions Limited, was infringing the copyright of movie director Spyros Melaris in the 1995 pseudo-documentary 'Alien Autopsy'.

For those who aren't UFO buffs like myself, the film purports to show an alien autopsy conducted shortly after the Roswell incident, and was broadcast around the world.  It became an international sensation but, devastatingly, the footage turned out to be a hoax.

Melaris alleged that he was the sole producer of the film and the sole owner of the copyright in it.  As a result, he said that Mindhouse was infringing his copyright by producing an upcoming documentary on the story behind the hoax footage.

However, the court granted summary judgment in favour of Mindhouse, which argued that Melaris had assigned away his rights in agreements from 2002 and 2006.

Applications for summary judgment are governed by CPR Part 24.  Under CPR Part 24.3, a court may give summary judgment against a claimant or defendant if it considers that the party has no real prospect of succeeding on the claim, defence or issue, and there is no other compelling reason why the case or issue should be disposed of at trial.

In this case, the court found that there was no reasonable prospect of Melaris proving at trial that he had solely made the pseudo-documentary, or that he was eligible to bring a claim for copyright infringement.  This was due to the 2002 and 2006 agreements indicating that the copyright in the film belonged to a third party, Orbital Media Limited.  Melaris claimed that he did not enter into those agreements, but the court was not persuaded by this.

Melaris said that Mindhouse falsely represented the origin and authorship of the film, and perpetuated the false narrative of Ray Santilli, a British musician and film producer, that the film was a restoration of alleged 1947 footage. 

Establishing authorship and ownership are key in copyright infringement claims and can often be effective lines of attack for defendants.  If a claimant cannot prove that they are the author or rightful owner of a copyright work, then an infringement claim is destined to fail.  These can be nuanced issues, particularly where multiple individuals are involved in the creation of a work or where there is a chain of title.  Before bringing proceedings, it is therefore important to first bottom out these issues.

Law360's full article can be found here: Louis Theroux's company beats alien autopsy copyright claim