M. Night Shyamalan Wins Lawsuit Over 'Servant' Series

M. Night Shyamalan Wins Lawsuit Over 'Servant' Series


M. Night Shyamalan has been cleared of copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed over Apple TV+'s Servant. A jury unanimously sided with the director on Friday, bringing an end to a legal battle that lasted five years.

The lawsuit, filed in 2020 by Italian director Francesca Gregorini, claimed that Servant borrowed elements from her 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel. Gregorini argued that both works shared striking similarities, including the storyline of a woman caring for a doll as an emotional replacement for a deceased child.

Shyamalan took the stand in his defense during the trial, asserting that he and his team had never seen Gregorini's film before the lawsuit. He described the similarities as a “misunderstanding,” emphasizing that such an accusation went against everything he stood for as a filmmaker.

“This accusation is the exact opposite of everything I do and everything I try to represent,” Shyamalan told the court. “I would have never allowed it. None of the people that I work with would ever do anything like that.”

The jury reviewed both Servant and The Truth About Emanuel before concluding that Shyamalan and Apple TV+ were not at fault. The case had initially been dismissed by a federal judge, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in 2022, ruling that the two works were “substantially similar.” However, after deliberating, the jury ruled in favor of Shyamalan, putting the lawsuit to rest.


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