The British author of a book called Bridge of Spies is suing studios behind the Oscar-nominated Steven Spielberg movie of the same name in a dispute over use of the title.
Giles Whittell, a journalist, author and currently a leader writer for the Times, names several units of studio DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox Film Company in a preliminary hearing for the legal action at the high court in London, according to Bloomberg.
Whittell, who was the Times’s Moscow correspondent between 1999 and 2001, published his non-fiction book Bridge of Spies in 2010. It covers much of the same subject matter as the Hollywood espionage drama, including the core matter of cold-war prisoner exchanges between the Soviet Union and US. Spielberg’s film centres on a US lawyer, played by Tom Hanks, who is recruited to defend a Soviet spy (Mark Rylance) and help the CIA to rescue a missing pilot.
Documents from a hearing at the high court on Friday reveal Whittell previously sued Dreamworks on the grounds that it did not get permission to use the title Bridge of Spies. The writer’s lawyers claim the studio, which is co-owned by Spielberg, initially agreed to link to the book on websites for the film, but later reneged on the deal.
Bridge of Spies, Spielberg’s first film as director in three years, is up for six Academy awards, including best film, best supporting actor and best original screenplay. The 2016 Oscars take place at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles on 28 February.
Neither Whittell nor the studios involved have yet made any public comment on the legal action.