“This is Spinal Tap” co-creators Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest have finally reached a legal settlement last week over the film’s merchandising income and music sales. They sued Vivendi and its StudioCanal division claiming the defendants committed “Hollywood accounting” sins and bungled trademark rights back in 2016.
To review, the plaintiffs’ paperwork says they earned just $81 in merchandising income and $98 in music sales to show for their work.They demanded hundreds-of-millions of dollars in damages plus a chance to reclaim “Spinal Tap” by exercising termination rights under the Copyright Act.
The parties informed a judge this week that they reached agreement and will be preparing a long-form settlement that will include “restructuring the parties’ relationship and modifying contracts pertaining to the picture’s distribution.”
Source: Deadline
