Seth MacFarlane Sued Over 'Ted' for Alleged Copyright Infringement
By Dave McNary
Seth MacFarlane, Universal Pictures and Media Rights Capital have been sued for alleged copyright infringement for their hit comedy Ted.
Bengal Mangle Productions filed the suit Tuesday in state court in Los Angeles and alleged that the titular teddy bear is an unlawful copy of its own animated bear, who starred in web series “Charlie The Abusive Teddy” and “Acting School Academy.” (See bottom of post for a video from the web series.)
MRC and reps for MacFarlane had no comment. Reps for Universal had no immediate response.
The suit alleges that Charlie and Ted are similar in physical appearance and behavior.
“Both Charlie and Ted reside in a substantially similar environment, including that both Charlie and Ted spend a significant amount of time sitting on a living room couch with a beer and/or cigarette in hand,” the suit alleges. “Charlie and Ted each have a substantially similar persona, verbal tone, verbal delivery, dialogue, and attitude.”
The suit, which also names MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions, alleges that scenes in the web series, which aired in 2009 and 2010 on YouTube and FunnyOrDie.com, are similar to scenes in 2012′s Ted.
Specific scenes cited in Ted include “showing a woman all the lewd acts he wants to perform with her; using violence to get his point across to John; talking to Nora Jones about their sexual history, and making fat jokes even when his life is in danger.”
Ted was directed, co-written and produced by MacFarlane and starred Mark Wahlberg. It grossed $550 million worldwide and a sequel has been set to be released next June.
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