Singer Beyoncé is facing a lawsuit after allegedly stealing ideas from a filmmaker for the trailer of her HBO hour-long special, “Lemonade,” according to court documents.
Filmmaker Matthew Fulks filed a complaint in a New York court on Wednesday, June 8, accusing Beyoncé of infringing his copyright to the short film, “Palinoia” by using “substantially similar visual and auditory elements” without permission.
“The number of aesthetic decisions included in Plaintiff’s PALINOIA Work that are parroted in Defendants’ LEMONADE Trailer demonstrates that the LEMONADE Trailer is substantially similar to the PALINOIA Work,” states the complaint. “The misappropriated content includes both the particular elements that the Plaintiff chose to comprise the PALINOIA Work and the coordination and arrangement of those particular elements.”
Sony, Columbia, and Parkwood Entertainment are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
According to Faulks, he was contacted about directing a video for the Columbia-signed group MS MR. It was then that he sent his clips—including “Palinoia”—to several people at the record label, including director, Bryan Younce. He continues to claim that he submitted a video treatment to Younce last July and just five months later the filming for “Lemonade” began.
The visual similarities cited are “graffiti and persons with heads down,” “red persons with eyes obscured,” “parking garage,” “stairwell,” “black and white eyes,” “title card screens,” “the grass scene,” “feet on the street,” “side-lit ominous figures.”
