LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County man is suing a movie production company, alleging copyright infringement and defamation.
Farhad Safinia filed a complaint Sept. 19 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Voltage Pictures LLC, Voltage Productions LLC, Christchurch Productions DAC and Nicolas Chartier and Does 1-100, alleging they breached their duty of good faith and fair dealing regarding a screenplay he owned.
According to the complaint, on Sept. 14, 2016, Safinia was informed the defendants had prepared an unauthorized derivative work from the screenplay he owned in the form of a motion picture and which the defendants also titled "The Professor and the Madman." The suit says the defendants further damaged Safiinia by disseminating false statements about his professional attitude.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants published the defamatory statements with malice, and/or reckless disregard, and infringed on Safinia's rights in the screenplay.
Safinia seeks trial by jury, punitive damages, costs of action, attorney fees, expenses and all relief the court deems just. He is represented by attorneys Jeffery D. McFarland, Shahin Rezvani and Aaron Perahia of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 17-C-6902