Lucas Beats Fellini Film in Court

A company claiming to be the copyright holder for the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita lost a court case this week against porn entrepreneur Michael Lucas and his gay adult film Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita.

International Media Films had attempted to prove that Lucas's film violated the company's copyright. But Manhattan federal judge John G. Koeltl ruled that IMF had failed "to show that it has sufficient admissible evidence from which a reasonable fact finder could conclude that it was the copyright owner of the Fellini film."

"In fact, it is possible for the Fellini film to be in the public domain," Koeltl found in his ruling.

Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is one of the most expensive gay adult films ever produced, having cost an estimated $250,000. The film was released by Lucas Entertainment in 2006.

"I'm proud that my company won a case of such magnitude," Michael Lucas said in a statement. "We believed strongly that we hadn't done anything wrong even before we learned, through the meticulous, extensive and expensive fieldwork of our lawyers, that IMF doesn't even own the movie it went to court over. Of course I can only guess at my opponents' motivations, but if they thought that they could get a quick payday by walking all over a porn company, they were sorely mistaken. I am very proud that my company had the professionalism, the quality legal advice and the financial resources to stand up to this bullying."