![Actor Harry Shearer. Photo by Derek Bridges from New Orleans (RT4_Keynote_Harry Shearer) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://mynewsla.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1024px-Harry_Shearer_at_RT4-150x150.jpg)
![Actor Harry Shearer. Photo by Derek Bridges from New Orleans (RT4_Keynote_Harry Shearer) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://mynewsla.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1024px-Harry_Shearer_at_RT4-640x360.jpg)
Actor Harry Shearer. Photo by Derek Bridges from New Orleans (RT4_Keynote_Harry Shearer) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Shearer co-created the mock documentary that follows the exploits of the much-troubled rock group Spinal Tap, a comic band created in the 1970s by Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest. Shearer portrays the band’s bass player, Derek Smalls.
According to a federal court lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles, the film and its music “have remained popular for more than 30 years, and have earned considerable sums for the French conglomerate Vivendi S.A. But not for its creators.”
“Defendant Vivendi and its agents, including StudioCanal executive Ron Halpern, have engaged in anti-competitive business practices by manipulating accounting between Vivendi film and music subsidiaries and have engaged in fraud to deprive the Spinal Tap creators of a fair return for their work,” according to the complaint.
There has been no response from Vivendi.
The lawsuit contends that despite two theatrical releases of the film and repeated re-selling of rights that earned profits for multiple companies, Vivendi argues that the total share of worldwide merchandising income for the film’s four creators — including director Rob Reiner — totaled $81 between 1984 and 2006, while total income from music sales from 1989 to 2006 was $98.
“Over the past two years, Vivendi has failed to provide accounting statements at all,” according to the suit.
The suit is seeking damages of at least $125 million. It also notes that Shearer is pursuing trademark applications to secure creative rights to the film and its music, and Shearer is seeking “a judicial declaration vindicating those rights, which have been abandoned by Vivendi.”
—City News Service
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