A lawsuit was recently filed against guy-who-came-up-with-one-funny-idea-and-keeps-milking-it-however-he-can, also known as Seth MacFarlane for allegedly stealing the idea that later became the film, Ted.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bengal Mangle Productions, a production company in California, filed the suit against MacFarlane last week with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
The company claims that they wrote a screenplay in 2008 titled “Acting School Academy.” It featured an inappropriate and womanizing teddy bear named Charlie. The suit claims that the titular character in MacFarlane’s film is “strikingly similar to plaintiffs’ Charlie character.”
Some other similarities include:
- Charlie lives in a “human, adult world with all human friends.”
- Charlie is has a vulgar personality who often drinks, smokes, and frequents prostitutes.
The lawsuit says that MacFarlane could have easily picked up the idea from the production company as “Acting School Academy” became a web series with a spinoff featuring Charlie that was shown on YouTube, Vimeo, Funny or Die, and lots of other places. According to the lawsuit it gained over 1.2 million views between July 2009 and June 2012.
So far neither Universal or MacFarlane himself have commented on the lawsuit or defended the film. The lawsuit is ultimately alleging copyright infringement and is seeking damages in an unspecified amount.
