David Halberstadter

To a certain extent, David Halberstadter’s life lately has been consumed by “Power” — defending it, litigating for it, warning would-be challengers away from it.

Specifically, he represents the Starz Entertainment cable network and the producers and creative force behind its hit television series of that name. So far, he has vanquished five federal copyright and defamation lawsuits against his clients, with one more headed to mediation next month.

The plaintiffs all claim that the series about an African American drug lord is based on their own lives or the novels they wrote. “If I were to characterize what I’ve been doing the last couple of years, among other things, it’s spending a great deal of time and effort defending the integrity and originality of this show’s creator and its network,” Halberstadter said.

A main problem with all the lawsuits’ claims is that the plaintiffs’ stories are not “substantially similar [to “Power”] in the portions of the story that are actually protectable by copyright,” he said. Their overlap with the series is limited to “tropes about urban drug kingpins: fancy clothes, jewelry, big cars, murder, threats, South American cartel suppliers,” but not the actual characters or plot, he said.

One such case was dismissed early last year by a federal judge who had been a drug prosecutor and recognized that all the elements of the plaintiff’s story “were common to almost every case that she’d ever dealt with,” Halberstadter said. Walker v. Kemp, 2:21-cv-00528 (E.D. Penn., filed Feb. 4, 2021).

The pending case being mediated was brought by a person who claims “Power” defamed him because he never murdered anyone when he sold drugs. Holland v. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., 1:21-cv-02944 (S.D. N.Y., filed April 6, 2021).

Halberstadter also is defending Starz and Lions Gate in copyright action claiming the show “P-Valley” infringes the plaintiff’s copyright in a play she wrote. In March, Halberstadter had the case transferred from Georgia to the Los Angeles federal court. “I have a feeling the litigation activity in that case is going to intensify quickly,” he said. Gilbert-Daniels v. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., 2:23-cv-02147 (C.D. Cal., filed April 7, 2023).

That same month, the 9th Circuit affirmed the dismissal he obtained of a lawsuit claiming an episode of the TV series “Bull” and another proposed series infringed the plaintiff’s copyright in her pilot script. Washington v. ViacomCBS, 21-55668 (9th Cir., dec’d March 28, 2023).

Of course, Halberstadter handles many other types of intellectual property and media-related litigation. Last June, he settled a lawsuit for a shopping center’s owner over its use a of photograph of a model and fashion influencer. Hellström v. Westfield Property Management, LLC, 1:22-cv-01495 (S.D. N.Y., filed Feb. 23, 2022).

And he continues to spend part of his working hours reviewing films, TV series, books and “Ms.” magazine to head off potential copyright, defamation or other litigation.

— Don DeBenedictis