IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT—E.D. Cal.: Dismissal granted in movie adaptation dispute, (Sep 17, 2025)

By Kevin M. Finson, J.D.

A suit for copyright infringement and related claims was dismissed as to several defendants because it was unclear from the complaint what was alleged that each person had actually done.

An author failed to state claims for copyright infringement against various collaborators on a movie adaptation of his work, the U.S. District Court in Sacramento has held. The pro se complaint was conclusory and failed to make clear which defendants were alleged to have performed which bad acts (Smith v. Counts, No. 2:20-cv-02441-TLN-JDP (E.D. Cal. Sept. 15, 2025)).

Trevor L. Smith brought suit against 15 defendants for violation of federal copyright law and related state law claims relating to a novel he authored in 2012 titled “Unbelievers.” The defendants were various individuals and entities with whom Smith had worked in attempting to create a movie version of the novel, as well as on other projects. Several defendants moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, others moved to strike under California’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (Anti-SLAPP) statute. One defendant moved for sanctions.

Sanctions. The one defendant who sought sanctions did so for Smith’s failure to comply with a court order requiring that service information be provided to the U.S. Marshal’s service by a given date. The court found that while the information was provided untimely, it was only one day late and this did not justify sanctions. The motion for sanctions itself was also not properly noticed.

Failure to state a claim. As to each of the copyright-related claims alleged by Smith, the court found that the allegations were conclusory in nature and did not specify which of the several defendants were responsible for given acts. Claims for declaratory and injunctive relief were incorrectly styled as independent causes of action, rather than as remedies. A request for an accounting demanded relief from all parties but only alleged acts by one. The court dismissed all claims with leave to amend.

The court denied the motion for sanctions and granted the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, denying the Anti-SLAPP motion as moot in light of the dismissal for failure to state a claim.

The Case is No. 2:20-cv-02441-TLN-JDP.

Judge: Peterson, J.

Attorneys: Trevor L. Smith, pro se. Paul Counts, pro se.

Cases: Copyright CaliforniaNews