'Deep Throat' owners sue 'Lovelace' producers

The company that owns the 1972 pornographic feature "Deep Throat" has filed a $10 million copyright action against the producers of "Lovelace," a biopic starring Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace, star of "Deep Throat."

Arrow Productions Ltd. claims the film uses more than five minutes of unlicensed "Deep Throat" footage, and that producers used the title "Lovelace" without permission.

Arrow's action, filed in Manhattan Tuesday, seeks an injunction against all distribution and marketing of the film, due in theaters Friday. The company also seeks damages of at least $10 million and an accounting of all profits and revenues from "Lovelace."

Defendants include Millennium Films Inc., United Entertainment Inc. and the film's distributor, The Weinstein Company.

Arrow claims it approached Millennium in 2010, and in a letter from December, 2011, Millennium lawyer Donald Gordon wrote to Arrow's lawyer saying "Lovelace" did not violate Arrow's copyrights. He added that Millennium was free to use the name and likeness of Linda Lovelace, even in connection with her appearance in "Deep Throat."

Claims of "fair use" are decided on a case-by-case basis, accounting for commercial or non-commercial purposes, whether the copyrighted work is factual or creative, whether the copyrighted work's value is affected by the usage and how much of the copyrighted work is used.

"Lovelace" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and chronicles adult film star Lovelace's entry into the porn business, how she came to work on "Deep Throat" and her abusive marriage to Chuck Traynor, played by Peter Sarsgaard.

"Deep Throat" was the first widely released pornographic film, and drew astonishing middle class audiences, leading to today's porn industry. The iconic film made an estimated $600 million, of which Lovelace, the film's star, never saw any profit.

In her divorce from Traynor she claimed she was forced into pornography and prostitution at gunpoint, through violence and threats. Lovelace later came out against the porn industry as exploitative. She published the autobiographical "Ordeal," which became influential within the anti-pornography movement.