Lawyers for defendant Universal Studios filed court papers on late Friday claimed that its film project "Section 6" has yet to be given the green light to proceed. The film is hotly contested by MGM and Danjaq, who currently owned the rights to the lucrative 007 franchise in a copyright lawsuit they filed against the film giant last week, The Hollywood Reporter said. The plaintiffs argued that the derivation of a film project in active development that featured a British, dapper-looking spy agent employed by "His Majesty's Secret Service," has a double-O agent number and has the "license to kill" a megalomaniac villain to save England was definitely an infringement of the James Bond franchise.
THR said that both MGM and Danjaq followed up with the lawsuit with a request for the expedition of discovery by forcing Universal to turn over documents to determine whether the former needs to seek preliminary injunctive relief to block the progress of the "Section 6" film.
Universal said in its court filings on Friday, "(The) picture in question has not been 'green lit,' i.e., no decision has yet been made whether actually to produce it. Indeed, any 'green light' decision is many months away. The project is in the earliest stages of development and production of a motion picture would not commence until after a formal 'green light' decision is made (if ever)."
Universal also said that although it is sticking with its advisement to MGM before the lawsuit, which says that it will not be infringing the latter's James Bond intellectual property, it will not be turning over on what it has on "Section 6," as it still consider the plaintiff as a market competitor.
Lawyer Robert Schwartz at O'Melveny & Myers, who represented the plaintiffs in the copyright lawsuit, said that the urgency to sue Universal was spurred with the latest news reports that the defendant has already tapped a director, lead actor and four producers to work on the film written by Aaron Berg, THR said.
