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Ronald Dickerson, a writer, actor and film director also
known as JD Lawrence, had filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking the
injunction and $20 million in damages from Time Warner Inc,
Warner Brothers Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc and
Showtime Networks Inc.
A representative for Dickerson declined to comment on the ruling
by U.S. district court Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
"We are pleased that Judge Swain saw through this thinly-veiled
attempt to extort the companies that have invested over 14 years
and millions of dollars to bring the beloved "Barbershop"
franchise to audiences worldwide," Warner Bros and MGM jointly
said in an emailed statement.
A pre-trial conference on the lawsuit is scheduled for July 15.
The lawsuit claims that the plots, themes, characters and
situations in the Barbershop movies bear an overwhelming
resemblance to those of "Scissors," which toured the United
States from 1998-2001.
"Barbershop: The Next Cut," which stars Ice Cube, Cedric the
Entertainer, Eve and Nicki Minaj, is the latest film in a series
about the owners of a Chicago barbershop and an Atlanta beauty
salon, their employees and neighborhood problems such as gangs
and gentrification.
The case is Ronald Dickerson aka JD Lawrence vs Time Warner Inc.
et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District Court Of New York,
No. 16-02695.
(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard
Chang and Andrew Hay)
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