Bengal Mangle Productions (“Bengal”) filed a copyright infringement suit against Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the 2012 hit comedy Ted. The complaint alleged MacFarlane stole the idea of a foul-mouthed teddy bear living in an adult human world from a similar character named Charlie in Bengal’s 2008 screenplay Acting School Academy.
Bengal described the Charlie character as one that “lives in a human, adult world with all human friends. Charlie has a penchant for drinking, smoking, prostitutes, and is a generally vulgar yet humorous character.” The screenplay became a web series and was featured on websites like YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, FunnyOrDie.com, and Vimeo.com. The complaint claimed the web series had at least 1.2 million views from July 2009 to June 2012.
According to the complaint, the Ted character’s physical attributes and vulgar manner are “strikingly similar to [Bengal’s] Charlie character.” In addition, it noted that they both have human friends and live in a human, adult world.
Since the copyright law only protects original expression of an idea, not the idea itself, Bengal’s argument that MacFarlane stole its idea of a R-rated talking teddy bear living in an adult world may not be too persuasive.
In addition to MacFarlane, the suit also named Ted producer Media Rights Capital and distributor Universal Studios as well as MacFarlane’s company Fuzzy Door Productions.
Seth McFarlane Accused of Stealing Ted Character
‘Ted’ Studios, Seth MacFarlane Sued for Stealing Foul-Mouthed Teddy Bear