Getting Results – Shaking and stirring a high-profile film series

JMBM partners represented both the plaintiffs and counterclaim defendants in federal court copyright and trademark litigation concerning the film rights to the James Bond series. Our client was the major studio that had produced the Bond film series since the 1960s, as it sought to prevent another studio giant from launching its own Bond film franchise. Our lawyers secured a preliminary injunction against the new series, halting its production. After the Ninth Circuit affirmed the injunction, the two studios eventually settled their claims. Meanwhile, a writer who was an early collaborator with Bond author Ian Fleming also sued our client in relation to the proposed new Bond films, but lost his case when the trial court ruled he had waited too long to exercise his intellectual property rights. With complex claims and counterclaims involving a world renowned film franchise at stake, JMBM prevailed on behalf of our client.