Cindy Lee Garcia, actress in the anti-Islamist film "Age of Innocence," has withdrawn her case against the filmmaker from a Los Angeles state court and filed it in federal court Monday.
Garcia claims that the filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula violated copyright right claims and also tricked Garcia into doing the movie. Garcia is also filing suit against YouTube and Google Inc, YouTube's parent company for posting the video on the internet. Last week, a state court ruled in favor of Google and YouTube and denied a motion to remove the video from the Internet.
Garcia's lawyer Cris Armenta told Yahoo News, "I think we should be very clear that Google and YouTube are doing the wrong thing, that they say in their own terms and guidelines that hate speech is not allowed... How can this not be hate speech? How can this not be wrong, morally intellectually, legally?"
On the decision to take the civil suit to the federal court, Armenta told NBC's Today Show, "Today we will dismiss the state court lawsuit, but we're going to file again today in federal court...My client has a copyright claim... We intend to enforce it."
The anti-Islamist film "Innocence of Muslims" has stirred violent protests in Pakistan and many other parts of the Muslim world including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Libya and Egypt.
The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," which caused the violent attacks on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi resulting in the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American staff members has stirred turmoil across the Muslim world from Afghanistan to Indonesia.
The film derides the prophet Muhammad labeling him as scatterbrained and a molester. According to reports, the movie was created by an amateur filmmaker on a budget of around $5 million, most of the money coming from 100 unidentified Jewish donors, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The movie was initially said to be made by an Israeli-American named Sam Bacile. But now 55-year-old Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has been identified as the man behind the film. Nakoula was arrested last week over charges related to bank fraud, but he has since been released.
The movie was endorsed by the same US pastor who became infamous for encouraging the burning of the Quran. Tony Jones has become notorious for voicing his anti-Islamist sentiments. In the movie, the Prophet is mocked, being depicted as scatterbrained, a child molester as well as a killer.
Although YouTube has refused to remove the video from the Internet, it has blocked it in certain Muslim countries like Egypt.
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