Lawsuit against Apple, M. Night Shyamalan regarding ‘Servant’ can continue

An appeals court has ruled that the director of the 2013 film “The Truth About Emanuel” may proceed with her lawsuit against Apple and filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan regarding the “Servant” series, reports AppleInsider.

The case was dismissed in May of 2020, when Judge John F. Walter said that “Servant” was not similar enough to “Emanuel.” However, an appeals court has ruled in favor of Gregorini. Tuesday’s riling says that the earlier dismissal was “improper” as “reasonable minds could differ on the issue of substantial similarity.”

The lawsuit claimed that the Apple TV+ series “Servant” is a facsimile of Francesca Gergorini’s 2013 film, “The Truth About Emanuel.”

“Servant is a wholesale copy of Plaintiff Francesca Gregorini’s 2013 feature film The Truth About Emanuel,” the copyright infringement complaint and request for permanent injunction read. “As demonstrated by the long list of key parallels catalogued in Section III(C) of this Complaint, the misappropriation is not a mere borrowed premise, idea or story. Mr. Shyamalan has gone so far as to appropriate not just the plot of Emanuel—but also its use of cinematic language, creating a substantially similar feeling, mood, and theme.