'Precious' lawsuit tossed; no signed writing for copyright transfer

By Matthew Belloni

A Federal judge in Los Angeles New York has dismissed a key portion of The Weinstein Co.'s litigation over rights to the Sundance hit "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire."

We've been following this case since January, when we first reported that Harvey Weinstein claimed he bought the acclaimed Lee Daniels film about a pregnant African American girl (then titled "Push") days before sales agent John Sloss announced he'd sold it to Lionsgate, which is releasing it with the endorsement of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. The contract dispute between TWC and Sloss, Lionsgate and the film's producers spawned four separate lawsuits and features the A-list legal firepower of Bert Fields and David Boies (for TWC) and Patty Glaser (for Lionsgate). (Here's more backstory on the case.)  

Now, according to an LA Times blog, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled on Friday that TWC's lawsuit failed to state a valid legal claim that it was entitled to distribute the film. The reason? The negotiations, which included a flurry of late-night emails that Harvey and crew claimed proved the movie was theirs, never amounted to a valid copyright transfer, according to the judge.  

"A signed writing is required to effectuate a transfer of copyright ownership," Buchwald wrote. "To the extent that [TWC] alleges a purely oral agreement for the exclusive licensing and distribution rights to 'Push,' that claim clearly fails as a matter of law."

We haven't see the full ruling (UPDATE: Here's the full "Precious" decision) but we're betting the judges in the other "Precious" cases are anxious to read it. And we're sure Patty Glaser will make it availalble to them ASAP.

CORRECTED AND UPDATED POST