By Stone Martindale Dec 4, 2006, 5:20 GMT
Jay Leno, the Italian-Scottish American host of the "Tonight Show" and NBC Studios have sued editor Judy Brown and her publishers in U.S. District Court, claiming that her published collection of joke books have made profits of the backs of hard working stand up comics illegally.
Leno, who was raised in Massachusetts, and comics Rita Rudner, Jimmy Brogan, Diane Nichols, Sue Pascoe, wife of the late comedian Ronnie Shakes are all seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against Brown's whopping 19 compilation books, jokes by comedians including Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld, according to the lawsuit. They claim intellectual property theft on a mass scale.
"Her books credit the comedians who wrote the jokes, which only serves to make the copyright violations more egregious: The books sell precisely because they include jokes by famous comedians," the lawsuit states, reports CNN.
"Ms. Brown has even sent representatives to comedy clubs to record comedians' routines, so she can then copy the jokes into her books and profit from the original comedic works of others," according to the lawsuit.
Andrews McMeel Publishing, one of the publishers named in the lawsuit, declined to comment to CNN.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday of last week, says the plaintiffs contacted Brown and Andrews McMeel Publishing in the summer to halt publication of any past and future "infringing works."
"We never heard back from her," said Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the plaintiffs. Reported CNN.
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