Friday the 13th Legal Battle Takes its Next Turn as Horror, Inc Files Notice of Appeal

After yesterday's report on what might come next for the Friday the 13th legal dispute between Sean Cunningham's Horror, Inc and original screenwriter Victor Miller, we apparently did not have a very long wait ahead of us to find out where this case is headed next. Horror, Inc was given until October 31st to file a Notice of Appeal or agree on a settlement with Miller, but the sides appear to be no closer to any kind of agreement as Cunningham has opted to start the appeal process right away.

What this means, simply put, is that the case will move up to a higher court and this dispute will drag on longer, once again leaving the time frame wide open on when a full resolution might be reached. Considering that Cunningham did not waste any time filing his Notice of Appeal, we can safely conclude that he and Miller still have a long way to go before this matter will be resolved.

Well, Sean didn't wait the full 30 days to file the Notice of Appeal, which I would take to mean that Sean and Victor are not close to reaching a settlement. https://t.co/TO7cq1tdwv

— Larry Zerner (@Zernerlaw) October 18, 2018

If you need a refresher, we've got you covered. Essentially, the Copyright Act includes a provision that the original rights holder can use to reclaim what they once owned for any number of reasons. For example, if a bad deal was made many years prior or the value of the property has since shifted in such a way that might warrant a new or better deal, this is a tool that creators can use to secure the rights back.

In this case, there were some factors in dispute, such as whether Miller was considered an employee or not when he first wrote the film. Thus, the argument moved into the courts and was in limbo for quite some time, which led to the eventual cancellation of future content for the video game. The court eventually made its initial ruling in favor of Miller's argument but this ruling has since been appealed and will move up into a higher court as the battle drags on.

As per usual, we will keep you updated with all the latest developments here on Dead Entertainment.

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About the Author

Chris Morse

Programmer by day, writer by night. Having grown up surrounded by plenty of horror movies and video games, it only made sense for Chris to combine all of these passions into one place: Dead Entertainment. Whether he's working on designs, tinkering with the platform, or just writing up the latest horror news, he's sure to be hard at work keeping the wheels turning on this website no matter what time of day it is. When not coding or gaming, you can find him donning a Cheesehead and heading to the Midwest to cheer on his favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers. #GoPackGo

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