Intellectual Property Infringement Case – Hope Mitchell

A case of intellectual property infringement that has come up in the past year is one regarding the Outer Banks Netflix series. As Alexandra Del Rosario’s Deadline article “North Carolina Teacher And Author Files Lawsuit Against Netflix’s ‘Outer Banks’ For Copyright Infringement” describes, Kevin Wooten – who is the referenced NC teacher – sued Jonas and Joshua Pate – who created the Outer Banks Netflix series – for using the plot of his novel Pennywise: The Hunt for Blackbeard’s Treasure! in the Netflix show. Wooten claimed that there were many similarities between the Netflix series and his book: both feature the Outer Banks as the setting, include a treasure hunt, follow four main protagonists with similar backgrounds, and highlight a rich antagonist (Del Rosario). On top of that, Ellise Shafer’s Chicago Tribune article “North Carolina Teacher Files Copyright Infringement Suit Against Netflix’s ‘Outer Banks’” details that Wooten’s suit, filed on December 21, 2020, explains how the Pates had access to his novel, since he advertised and sold his book in Wilmington, North Carolina, which was used as inspiration for the Netflix series and is home to one of the Pates. However, in an updated article from The News & Observer, “Lawyers for ‘Outer Banks’ Creators Challenged NC Teacher’s Lawsuit. Judge Dismissed it,” Hayley Fowler writes that Wooten lost his case, given that a judge found that the novel and the series were not similar enough. While they do center similar ideas of treasure hunting, the judge explained that the supposed similarities seemed random and were only comparable because they are common for scenes/plots/characters for stories within the treasure hunting genre (Fowler).  

Here are the links and citations for the sources I used to research this infringement case:

Works Cited 

Del Rosario, Alexandra. “North Carolina Teacher And Author Files Lawsuit Against Netflix’s ‘Outer Banks’ For Copyright Infringement.” Deadline, 28 Dec. 2020, deadline.com/2020/12/north-carolina-author-netflix-outer-banks-copyright-infringement-1234662296/.  

Fowler, Hayley. “Lawyers for ‘Outer Banks’ Creators Challenged NC Teacher’s Lawsuit. Judge Dismissed it.” The News & Observer, 26 May 2021, www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article251696268.html. 

Shafer, Ellise. “North Carolina Teacher Files Copyright Infringement Suit Against Netflix’s ‘Outer Banks.’” Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2021, www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-outer-banks-copyright-infringement-20210105-cvv7awjfurhjper2h5kxdk2q7m-story.html.