FindLaw | Find a Lawyer. Find Answers.

Jay Leno and Fellow Comedians Represented by Gibson Dunn Put a Stop to Unauthorized Copying of Their Jokes in ´Joke Books´

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ --

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Jay Leno, several fellow comedians, and NBC Studios have settled their lawsuit in federal court against Judy Brown and Brown's publishers, putting an end to "joke books" created by Brown that collect and repackage thousands of the comedians' jokes without their permission. Leno, who along with Rita Rudner and NBC Studios, is donating all of his proceeds to charity, expressed satisfaction with the settlement.

Under the settlement, Brown's publishers pledged to immediately cease the distribution, manufacture and sale of Brown's joke books, and to pay compensation to the plaintiff comedians. Brown also agreed to a monetary settlement, apologized for her actions, and pledged to never again copy any of the plaintiffs' jokes without express permission to do so.

The suit, also brought by Rita Rudner, Jimmy Brogan, Diane Nichols, Sue Pascoe (widow of comedian Ronnie Shakes), Kathleen Madigan, and Bob Ettinger, alleged that Brown and the publisher defendants had violated federal copyright and trademark statutes by engaging in wholesale and unauthorized reproduction of the plaintiffs' original material in Brown's joke book compilations.

According to Leno, "I thought it was important to make it clear that jokes are protected like any other art form. On behalf of the tremendous and talented group of writers we have at The Tonight Show and many other hardworking comedians, I'm very glad we've been able to stop this practice once and for all."

"This settlement sends a strong message that the intellectual property rights of comedy writers must be respected," said Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, who represented NBC Studios and the comedians in the suit. Boutrous added that Gibson Dunn would be donating a portion of its proceeds from the settlement to charity.

Judy Brown apologized to the writers whose jokes she copied: "In my books, I have published jokes of Jay Leno and the other comedians in this lawsuit without their permission. I sincerely apologize for doing so. I greatly admire the creativity, wit and energy of stand-up comedians, and I recognize that comedy is as much an art form as other types of creative expression. The best comedians may make comedy seem easy, but I know it takes talent, hard work and careful preparation to make people laugh. That is why I am settling this lawsuit by agreeing never again to publish their jokes without asking their permission to do so."