Legendary music producer Ken Caillat, known for his work on Fleetwood Mac’s iconic album “Making Rumours”, on October 1, in the Federal Court of New York, along with his co-author Steven Stiefel has filed a lawsuit against the makers of the Broadway play “Stereophonic”, alleging copyright infringement of the memoir of Ken Caillat, titled “Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album”, published in 2012, against the playwright, David Adjmi. Ken Caillat and Steven Stiefel have alleged that the Play has copied character relationships, roles, events and scenes from the Memoir and the plot setting of the play matches the exact setting of the Memoir which was a best-selling memoir that offered fans an intimate look at the making of one of rock music’s greatest albums.
The legal action was filed alleging that the creators of the Play have copied concepts, ideas and narratives from Memoir which focuses on the chaotic process of developing and recording an album. The Memoir focuses a lot on the technical and personal details of the production of the album. The allegations stated that the play was “an unauthorized adaptation of the copyrighted memoir of Ken Caillat.
The Play showcases the story of a 1970s rock band and the passions and interests that include substance dependency, alcohol and drug recovery, and broken love matters all of which are translated in their music. One couple is American: the songwriter and vocalist Diana, and the unpredictable, controlling lead guitarist Peter. The other couple is British: vocalist and keyboardist Holly, and bassist Reg. Leading them all is Simon, a British drummer who is instrumental in keeping the group together. Since its Broadway debut, the Play has been a critically and commercially successful, winning several awards and grossing millions of dollars. With a planned film adaptation, the stakes are high, as Caillat’s lawsuit seeks damages along with a halt to further performances.
Attorney Brian Williams representing Caillat and Stiefel said, “Stereophonic reproduced our clients work from the book.”, claiming that the similarities were not coincidences. Their lawsuit outlines multiple occurrences of where the Play exacts from the Memoir. For instance, the character named “Grover” in the play was substantially similar to Caillat himself, who shifted from being a sound engineer to a producer. Further, the Attorney Williams also outlined multiple similarities between the Play and the Memoir, such as where the complaint drives a lot of its focus is the 1976 Mill Valley Houseboat Wars, which is mentioned in Memoir, that is in turn, used for portraying the scene where Reg delivers the monologue about the houseboats. This monologue has been praised in the reviews and was an important element of the performance with which the actor Will Brill was awarded the Tony Award.
In their lawsuit, Caillat and Stiefel also accused that some of scenes in the Play imitated notable episodes described in the Memoir such as the inadvertent deletion of a guitar leading to an intense argument, which is claimed to be loosely based on a real-life encounter between Caillat and Lindsey Buckingham, the guitarist of the Fleetwood Mac group.
David Adjmi responded to these allegations by denying all the allegations against him and stated that the Play does not lift from Memoir and it is actually inspired by a fully fictionalized story basing off different experiences from his own life.
Interestingly enough, this suit does not mark the first time Adjmi has been involved in matters concerning copyright infringement. His earlier work, “3C” was alleged to be based on the sitcom “Three’s Company”, however, Adjmi successfully defended “3C” as a creation of his own, especially in view of the fact that U.S. copyright law allows the defense of parody as principle of fair use.
On the other hand, Caillat’s lawsuit vehemently denies the allegations of the Play to be a parody. Unlike Adjmi’s “3C”, which was deemed a transformative work under parody, Caillat’s lawsuit alleges that the Play does not significantly alter the original content and instead relies on it. This representation may take away from Adjmi the little defense that law may provide as the fair-use principle would only apply if the Play was, indeed, a parody.
The lawsuit brings to light ongoing debates about the limits of copyright, especially when it involves real-life events. Copyright law does not protect historical facts, but it does safeguard creative expressions of those facts, such as narrative structures, dialogue and unique descriptions in an original manner. The claim that the Memoir while focusing on very personal and poetic aspects. However, the problem remains debatable. Since creative works of fiction have always drawn from real life, concerned stakeholders lawsuit can capitalize on the outcome of this ongoing conflict.
It would be interesting to see the outcome of this legal proceeding as the decision will have far-reaching implications, not just for the parties involved, but for writers, filmmakers, and artists navigating the thin line between creativity and copyright infringement. The judgment shall also help in understanding how the courts define originality and intellectual property in an age where inspiration from real-life events is more accessible than ever.
Authors: Khushboo Pareek, Vishal Menon & Shafaq Rashid