New York, May 9, 2007
Felliniesque
Case AFTER earning his law degree
from Moscow State Law Academy in Russia, Andrei
Treivas took a legal road less traveled: a
career in adult entertainment. Mr. Treivas moved to
New York City in 1997, changed his name to
Michael Lucas and opened a film company,
Lucas Entertainment. Mr. Lucas recently had a chance to put his legal
education to work. In February, Mr. Lucas and his
company were sued over his film "Michael Lucas's La
Dolce Vita." International Media Films Inc., the
company that owns the rights to the Fellini classic
film "La Dolce Vita," wanted to halt the sale of
the porn movie, alleging copyright and trademark
infringement. Last week a federal judge in Manhattan ruled
that Mr. Lucas can continue to sell his film. Judge
John Koeltl noted that the plaintiff waited
five months after learning of "Michael Lucas's La
Dolce Vita" before seeking relief. As for "marketplace confusion" between the two
titles he expressed doubts. Because the two films
"move through radically different channels of
trade," wrote the judge, "it thus seems extremely
unlikely that a hapless purchaser seeking to buy
Fellini's film will inadvertently stumble across
'Michael Lucas's La Dolce Vita.' " --Amir Efrati and Nathan Koppel contributed
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