A $500 million copyright infringement lawsuit against two Hollywood studios turned out to be rather expensive for the so-called Mother of the Matrix as a judge ordered her to pay $305,000 in fees to the defendants' attorneys.

The award of fees compensated the lawyers for their time spent defending Fox and Warner Bros. from Sophia Stewart's claims that the makers of the "Matrix" and "Terminator" films stole her idea for a science-fiction movie.

Stewart was seeking more than $200 million in damages and royalties of 10 percent of the gross income from the films. The individual defendants included brothers Joel and Andy Wachowski, the writer-directors of the three "Matrix" films, and "Terminator" director James Cameron.

U.S. District Judge Margaret D. Morrow last year summarily dismissed the case, finding no admissible evidence that the Wachowskis had access to Stewart's futuristic manuscript "The Third Eye" or that the work was strikingly similar to "The Matrix.”

Stewart conducted no discovery, twice failed to show up for a scheduled deposition and never produced a crucial magazine ad which allegedly proved the connection between “The Third Eye” and the Wachowskis' work.

Morrow awarded the attorneys' fees in a recent order. The next challenge for the defense lawyers -- Bruce A. Isaacs and David H. Boren of Wyman & Isaacs in Beverly Hills -- may be collecting them.

In a similar case, the creators of the screenplay “Funk Parlor” could also be facing an attorney fees award after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found this week that the award-winning HBO show “Six Feet Under” did not infringe on their work.

The opinion noted that "'The Funk Parlor' contains a number of scenes with no equivalent in 'Six Feet Under,'" among them,

a surgical blood-transfusion procedure that John executes at the funeral parlor; a discussion regarding the extraction of ejaculatory material from a corpse; and numerous scenes involving group drinking, a techno-rave party that generates money for the ailing funeral home, and recurring references to the band Led Zeppelin.

By Matthew Heller
9/1/06