The ghostwriter of O.J. Simpson's “If I Did It” has won a speedy dismissal of a copyright infringement suit against him as a judge ruled that another author could not claim a monopoly of the facts of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Amir Pourtemour, a Manhattan Beach, Calif., restaurant owner, claims “If I Did It” ripped off two chapters of his self-published 1995 account of the murders, “Perfect Alibi: O.J. Simpson's Strategy of Murder.” He named Simpson, Fred Goldman and ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves among the defendants.

Pourtemour's allegations "demonstrate that both books have the same general idea and that certain facts that are allegedly revealed in Plaintiff’s book also appear in Defendant’s book," U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner said in a March 4 minute order.

But he granted Fenjves' motion to dismiss, finding that “no copyright infringement claim may arise out of facts being recited in one’s work simply because another work recited the same facts at a prior occasion.”

Fenjves has said he believes Simpson committed the murders and his motion argued that "If I Did It" is an accurate account of the "details of the night the murders took place."

"Although the title of the book (“If I Did It”) contradicts the Defendant’s contention by creating a presumption that O.J. Simpson’s writings are hypothetical, a determination regarding the truth of such allegations is not appropriate at this state of litigation, where the Court must construe all disputed facts in Plaintiff’s favor," Klausner said.

A federal bankruptcy judge awarded the rights to "If I Did It" to the Goldman family in July 2007 to help satisfy a $38 million wrongful death judgment against Simpson. The Goldmans view the book as his confession.

Pourtemour's claims against the other defendants are still pending but are unlikely to survive similar motions to dismiss.

By Matthew Heller
3/12/08