Warner Bros. Responds to 'The Batman' Lawsuit, DC Comics to Sue Plaintiff
Counsel for Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. denied that 'The Batman' copied plaintiff Chris Wozniak's plot. Meanwhile, DC Comics files for their slice of the pie.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. counsel James D. Weinberger responded to The Batman lawsuit in court documents filed last Thursday. The defendant “denies that The Batman copied any portion of the Wozniak Batman Riddler Plot,” according to Weinberger. Meanwhile, DC Comics — represented by Kimberly B. Frumkin of Weinberger’s law firm, Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu — filed a motion to intervene.
The company accused Wozniak of copyright infringement — the same claim plaintiff Chris Wozniak is suing Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. for — and fraud against the United States Copyright Office. The motion claims that Wozniak “submitted the Wozniak Batman Riddler Plot to the U.S. Copyright Office without indicating that it was a derivative work that was prepared without the permission of the copyright holder, DC Comics.” DC Comics goes on to write, “Wozniak purposefully did not include this information, knowing that the U.S. Copyright Office would not issue him a copyright registration if it were in fact disclosed.”
Mr. Wozniak has since created a fundraiser on GoFundMe for legal fees, estimating “up to half a million dollars.” The fundraiser has a goal of $20,000; as of publication, Wozniak has raised $3,068.
Contrary to Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.’s response, Mr. Wozniak accuses the company of “NOT disputing they used my story to make the film.” (In paragraph 43 of the response, counsel writes that the defendant “denies that The Batman copied any portion of the Wozniak Batman Riddler Plot.")
Mr. Wozniak’s defense for the copyright infringement claim brought against him is that in the 90s, “established freelancers were given free license to submit stories anytime they wanted.” In a Facebook post promoting the GoFundMe, Wozniak wrote that his lawyer, Robert Terry Parker, wanted “anyone who worked at or freelanced for DC Comics in those days DM me to confirm freelancers submitting ‘unauthorized’ stories was a normal standard operating procedure encouraged by DC Comics.”
According to Ms. Frumkin, Mr. Wozniak’s attorney is not opposed to the motion to intervene. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer gave a deadline of December 22 for the plaintiff to respond.
In the meantime, The Bat, the Cat, and the Fox compared Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.’s response to Mr. Wozniak’s initial complaint. You can read them both below (red is denial on the defendant’s part, green is admission, and yellow “lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief”):
