A federal judge threw out a plagiarism case against Beyoncé by filmmaker Matthew Fulks, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bey’s Lemonade broke the Internet, then the case was filed in June. The love for the release spread quickly. Then, Fulks cited nine problem areas for the lawsuit. Specifically low-light shots of a “parking garage” and shots of “graffiti on walls.”
Fulks is the creative director at WDRB, a Louisville, Kentucky-based news station. He claims more than half the scenes in the trailer for Lemonade are direct lifts from Palinoia. He also claimed he’d been contacted by Chris Thomas, a representative of a group called MS MR. He lists Thomas in the lawsuit as a “Columbia Affiliate.” Then, Thomas emailed Palinoia to Bryan Younce at Columbia. He alleges that Younce asked for his information, then reached out to Thomas and asked him to provide a treatment for consideration by Columbia. Less than six months later, Younce and Bey began shooting Lemonade.
Unbothered, Bey’s legal team responded. They countered that Lemonade was about “an African-American woman who progresses through stages of suspicion, denial, anger and, ultimately, reconciliation in her relationship,” according to Complex.
Judge Rakoff concluded that Beyonce´did nothing wrong. He didn’t offer up his reasons at trial but did write, “Upon full consideration of the parties’ briefs and oral arguments, the Court grants defendants’ motion. A memorandum explaining the reasons for this ruling will issue in due course, at which time final judgment will be entered.”
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