Shyamalan Wins Court Battle Against Charges Of Plagiarism
India-West News Desk
RIVERSIDE, CA – A federal jury delivered a unanimous verdict in favor of M. Night Shyamalan and Apple on January 31, concluding a seven-day copyright trial regarding allegations that the streaming series Servant plagiarized elements from the 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel.
The lawsuit, filed by Italian-born director Francesca Gregorini, sought up to $81 million in damages, claiming that Shyamalan, Apple, and others involved in Servant had stolen narrative elements from her film without proper credit. Gregorini, who argued that key plot points in Servant mirrored those in Emanuel, testified that she was advised against filing the lawsuit due to potential career repercussions. Nevertheless, she maintained her decision to stand up against what she viewed as widespread theft in the industry, Variety said.
Shyamalan, who co-created Servant with Tony Basgallop, strongly denied the accusations. He told the court that he and his team had never seen or heard of The Truth About Emanuel prior to the litigation. “This accusation is the exact opposite of everything I do and everything I try to represent,” Shyamalan stated. “I would have never allowed it. None of the people that I work with would ever do anything like that.”
During his testimony, Variety reported, Shyamalan was questioned about specific scenes and elements alleged to have been copied from Gregorini’s film. He argued that certain tropes, such as a character fainting, were not original to her work. “We’ve all seen it hundreds and hundreds of times,” he said, referencing works by Alfred Hitchcock like Rebecca, Notorious, and Saboteur. “It’s just a thing no one owns.”
The jury viewed both The Truth About Emanuel and the first three episodes of Servant before deliberating. After a full day of discussions, the jury ruled unanimously that the defendants had not had access to the film, despite its availability at Sundance and on iTunes. This meant they did not need to assess whether the two works were similar.
This decision wraps up a five-year legal battle, which began in 2020 after Servant debuted on Apple TV+. Although a federal judge initially dismissed the case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in 2022. Apple’s motion for summary judgment was denied in November, leading to the trial’s proceedings.
Servant has since concluded its four-season run, and the trial’s outcome clears Shyamalan and Apple of the copyright infringement charges.
