HBO’s Ballers is getting sued for copyright infringement.
Another day, another lawsuit.
HBO and Ballers producers are getting sued for copyright infringement. According to reports, two righters are suing HBO, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Stephen Levinson, arguing that the series Ballers is a ripoff of an idea they had for a TV show called Off Season.
From Variety:
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Everette Silas and Sherri Littleton claim that they had a deal to sell their show to producers Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, who through their Mayhem Pictures have produced such sports-related movies as “The Game Plan” starring Johnson and “Invincible” starring Wahlberg.
They claim that Ciardi and Gray gave a copy of a trailer, treatment and screenplay to Johnson and Wahlberg, with an eye for them in the lead roles. But according to their suit, Silas and Littleton refused to sign an agreement because it required them to remove their names from the “Created By” credit, which they refused to do. Negotiations then ended.
The HBO series Ballers features Dwayne Johnson as the leading man. He is also the executive producer alongside Wahlberg and Levinson, who also was credited as the creator. The lawsuit argues that “the stories, character traits, scenes, and incidents portrayed in the two works, ‘Ballers’ and ‘Off Season,’ are, in many respects, virtually identical and strikingly similar.”
HBO argues that they did not steal the idea from the two accusers and they are “confident the case has no merit.”
HBO’s Ballers is all about two things, making money and having a good time. I am not surprised. Ballers is a TV show about football players spending money and sleeping around was allegedly “stolen”. But, what do you think? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below! If you’re interested in joining the cast and crew of Ballers Season 2, you can check out the latest casting calls here.
