The high court agrees to decide the case brought by Paula Petrella, the daughter of the movie's author Frank Petrella.
- Oct 2, 2013
AceShowbiz - The "Raging Bull" copyright case is brought to the U.S. Supreme Court. While preparing for the beginning of the new 2013-14 session on October 7, the high court agreed on Tuesday, October 1 to take up the case brought by Paula Petrella, the daughter of "Raging Bull: My Story" author Frank Petrella on which the movie was based.
Paula, who holds the copyrights to "Raging Bull" following her father's death, claims Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment have infringed the copyright of the 1963 screenplay by creating and distributing copies of the movie starring Robert De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta. She said she had renewed the copyright to her father's work after its initial 28-year term expired in 1991.
A federal judge in Los Angeles and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected her claim, reasoning that she waited too long before filing her lawsuit. Petrella indeed started exchanging letters with MGM regarding the copyright issue in 1998, but it's not until 2009 that she filed the lawsuit.
The case, along with seven others that the Supreme Court agreed to decide, will be heard for a full argument in January.
