Is new 'Wall Street' a spinoff or a sequel? Michael Douglas' ex-wife wants to know
Wed Jun 30, 2010 @ 10:39AM PSTBy Eriq Gardner
As Gordon Gekko said: "Greed is good."
Michael Douglas' ex-wife, Diandra, now wants a cut from his "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" payday. At issue is language in a decade-old divorce agreement that Diandra Douglas says in a new court action entitles her to money from "spinoffs" of work created when the couple was married. In response, Michael Douglas says that "Wall Street 2" isn't a "spinoff" but rather a "sequel."
Is it? Interesting legal issue. The divorce agreement apparently didn't clarify what a "spinoff" means. In terms of copyright law, both are derivative works. That doesn't mean that a judge will see them as the same (although we can be sure there's a lesson here for both divorce and entertainment lawyers).
ABC News filed this interesting report on the subject and had two lawyers debate the subject:
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