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Producer Sues Over Clip of Bruce Lee

     (CN) – A producer who claims he holds the rights to a clip of Bruce Lee practicing on the set of the movie “The Green Hornet” accused Fox Cable Networks using the clip without permission on the TV show “Bruce Lee Lives.”
Laurence Joachim, who produced a handful of martial arts movies in the 1970s, including working on “The Green Hornet,” claims his copyrighted clip of Lee’s screen test appeared on TV and on a website promoting the show. A letter demanding the defendants quit using the segment was ignored, according to the complaint in federal court in Los Angeles.
Joachim claims Fox and the other defendants owe him between $750 and $30,000 for “unintentional” violations and $150,000 for willful infringement.
Trans-National Film Corporation was the original owner of the copyright in 1974. According to the complaint, it was assigned to Joachim in 1977.
Joachim, who is suing Pangolin Pictures Inc., Fuel TV Inc., FX Networks, Fox Cable Networks Inc., Fox Audience Network Inc., Fox Cable Network Services and News Corporation for copyright infringement and unfair competition, is represented by Robert and Ryan Kashfian of Los Angeles, George Akwo of Santa Monica, Calif. and Ophir Bitton, of Studio City, Calif.