Remember "3C," the off-Broadway theatrical parody of "Three's Company" at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater? It seems the creator received a cease-and-desist letter from the copyright owners of the popular ABC sitcom and was going to call it a show when it ended its run Saturday. But now others in the thespian community are urging him to fight back -- citing the "fair use" doctrine -- a fight playwright David Adjmi says he's not sure if he should take on, in part because he can't afford it, and in part because he's received conflicting advice as to whether or not the play qualifies as parody.
Still, others think he needs to stand up for himself.
“The fact that the lawyers for the long-gone show ‘Three’s Company’ have nothing better to do, aside from billing legal hours like truffle pigs, than attempt to bully an off-Broadway playwright of modest means is an affront of the most base kind,” said Jon Robin Baitz, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his show “Other Desert Cities.”
Read HERE.
1 comment:
I was going to see this show when on my next NYC jaunt. Now I can't. It sounded so interesting. The "truffle pig" lawyers who brought about the cease and desist order should be slapped! Do they think "Three's Company" was an intellectual property? What integrity are they trying to uphold? "Three's Company" never had integrity! It was a vapid, albeit iconic, sitcom. The play parodied this fact, yet tweeked it to show up the absurdity and banality of this tired show and its relevance now. So frustrating!
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