Playwright, Gregory L. Hudson compares himself and his experiences in the United States Judicial system to the 1857 Supreme Court case of slave Dread Scott who sued his slave master for his freedom and was told that he (Dread Scott) lack standing in the American Court System because he was a black man and a slave.  Hudson sued Universal Pictures, Eddie Murphy, Heavy D, and other for One Hundred Million Dollars in 2002.  Hudson alleges that the defendants copied from his stage play titled, No Harm, No Foul, to create the hit moive, LIFE, starring Eddied Murphy.

Dread Scott sued his slave master

for his freedom and lost!

Slave Dread Scott  and his wife 

was purchased by his slave master's

son and set free after the United

States Supreme Court ruled that he

was not a free man, even though he

had lived in a free state, because he

was a slave and lacked any

standing in the United States Court

System.  (See Dread Scott Decision)

May 21, 2005, vol. #2.

Hudson v. Universal Studios (Case #04-CV-6997)

Feature Story #2:

"I'M NOT DREAD SCOTT...I'M GREGORY L. HUDSON"

Like Dread Scott, a slave who sued for his freedom in 1846 and lost in the state courts, playwright Gregory L. Hudson finds himself 160 years later fighting a similar legal battle.  

In spite of the fact that Dread Scott had lived in Illinois and Wisconsin where slavery was probihited, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, ruled that Dread Scott had no standing in the Court System because he was black.  

Inspite of the fact that Gregory L. Hudson presented unprecedented evidence of copyright infringement and photographs of both works that bears "striking similarity," the Eastern District Court of New York and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "no reasonable jury could conclude substantial similarity between the two works; in other words, Gregory L. Hudson had no standing in the Court System...   If a reasonble jury could view the photographs and other evidence and determine substantial similarity, then the Courts are prohibited from granting summary judgment for the defendants...That is the law!

"Determination of substantial similarity requires a detailed comparison of the works at issue, including such aspects as to the total concept and feel, theme, characters, plot, sequence, pace, and setting." That is the law!  Nowhere in this case has a "detailed comparison of the works been conducted."  The Courts cited caselaw such as Williams v. Cricthon and Hudson cited Sheldon v. MGM as precedential examples of "detailed comparison," neither Court adhered to either citation or the copyright law.  The most compeling aspect of the Courts rulings, is the fact that Heavy D, a/k/a Dwight Meyers, never responded to the complaint and both Courts dismissed the complaint against him.  This ruling by the Courts is baffling and very frighten.   If one citizen is exempt from answering a meritorious complaint, then every other citizen is entitled to that same right.

Eleven years later, in 1857, Dread Scott case made its way to the Supreme Court and needless to say, he lost.  Justice Taney also ruled that, a slave was the property of the slaverowner. 

In June of 2005, Gregory L. Hudson will find himself appealing to the Supreme Court.  In the mean time, Hudson is vigorously battling these defendants in the Southern District Court of New York where they are presently in a "deadlock" in the early stages of discovery because of tactics used by attorney Richard Dunnay which Hudson took strong exception to.

"I am not a slave, and nor am I the property of Universal Studios.  My work belongs to me unless I state otherwise."

"I AM NOT DREAD SCOTT...I AM GREGORY L. HUDSON"