Appeals Court Upholds Jury Verdict Clearing Apple in 'Servant' Copyright Case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld a jury verdict that cleared Apple of claims that its thriller series 'Servant' was copied from an independent film. The ruling, reported by Reuters, was issued this week and keeps in place a decision reached in January of last year.

'Servant' was among the original productions Apple lined up for its streaming service, which was then called Apple TV+. The psychological thriller was created under M. Night Shyamalan and starred Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free and Rupert Grint. Apple's synopsis describes it as following a Philadelphia couple in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and lets a mysterious force into their home.

Not long after the series premiered, Italian-born director Francesca Gregorini sued Apple and Shyamalan. She alleged that the show took its plot from her 2013 film 'The Truth About Emanuel' and sought as much as $81 million in damages.

The series ran for four seasons and concluded in 2023, but the legal fight continued. In January of last year, a jury unanimously sided with Apple and Shyamalan, finding that the creators of 'Servant' had not had access to Gregorini's film before they developed the show.

Gregorini appealed, challenging two aspects of the trial. She argued first that jurors should have been given more detailed instructions on what counts as 'widespread dissemination,' including whether her film was well enough known in the entertainment industry for the show's creators to have come across it.

Her second argument concerned a question the jury sent to the court asking for clarification of that same term. She contended that the trial judge should not have accepted the verdict without answering it.

The Ninth Circuit rejected both arguments. It found that the jury instructions accurately reflected the applicable law and that the trial judge was not obliged to offer a more detailed definition of what it means for a work to be 'widely disseminated.'

The appeals court also concluded that the judge did not abuse her discretion by accepting the jury's unanimous verdict without first responding to the jurors' question.

Apple TV is priced at $14.99 per month and is also offered as part of the Apple One bundle. Its catalog includes series such as 'Ted Lasso,' 'Severance,' 'The Studio,' 'The Morning Show,' 'Shrinking' and 'Silo.'