Faulkner Estate Loses Lawsuit

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A federal judge in Mississippi has dismissed a lawsuit that said Woody Allen’s film, “Midnight in Paris,” lifted a line from a William Faulkner book.

Faulkner Literary Rights LLC filed the copyright lawsuit against Sony Pictures Classics Inc. in October in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

The lawsuit says a movie character took a line from Faulkner’s book, “Requiem for a Nun.”

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

In the movie, actor Owen Wilson, says: “The past is not dead. Actually, it’s not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right.”

U.S. District Judge Michael Mills dismissed the lawsuit Thursday.

The lawsuit said the line could confuse viewers “as to a perceived affiliation, connection or association” between Faulkner and Sony.

Mills disagreed.