## Facts

- A 1983 motion picture depicted a Texas Ranger, portrayed by Chuck Norris, who fought crime using firearms and martial arts.
- Orion Pictures held rights in the film and later assigned certain rights to Lone Wolf McQuade Associates while reserving the right to make a television special and television series based on the film.
- CBS aired a television movie/pilot and then produced the television series *Walker, Texas Ranger*, starring Chuck Norris as a Texas Ranger who used firearms and martial arts to fight crime.
- Lone Wolf McQuade Associates sued CBS (later adding Top Kick Productions and Norris) asserting copyright infringement, Lanham Act § 43(a), and New York unfair competition/misappropriation.
- Orion intervened asserting its own copyright infringement claims, then settled and granted CBS a retroactive (to Jan. 1, 1990), perpetual license to use the film in connection with *Walker, Texas Ranger*; Orion’s claims were dismissed with prejudice.
- Defendants moved for summary judgment on Lone Wolf McQuade Associates’ remaining claims.

## Issues

1. Whether the television series was substantially similar to the film in protectable expression such that defendants infringed copyright.
2. Whether Orion’s retroactive, perpetual license to CBS authorized the challenged use and defeated plaintiff’s infringement theory.
3. Whether plaintiff could maintain Lanham Act § 43(a) and New York unfair competition/misappropriation claims based on alleged copying of the film’s “property” or character concept, including any showing of actionable confusion.

## Decision

- The court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment and dismissed all of Lone Wolf McQuade Associates’ claims.
- The court held the film and series were not substantially similar in protectable expression; similarities identified by plaintiff were largely unprotectable ideas, stock elements, or generalized character types.
- The court treated Orion’s retroactive license as authorizing CBS’s use in connection with the series, independently undermining any infringement claim premised on lack of authorization.
- The court rejected the Lanham Act and New York claims because they sought copyright-like protection for expressive content and lacked record support for confusion or passing off.

## Legal Principles

- Copyright infringement requires unlawful appropriation of protectable expression; similarity at the level of ideas, archetypes, stock scenes, or generalized character concepts is not actionable.
- Substantial similarity analysis focuses on plot, sequence, character development, and overall expressive structure, not abstract labels or shared premises.
- A license from the copyright owner—particularly one granting retroactive authorization—can bar infringement claims premised on unauthorized use.
- Lanham Act § 43(a) addresses source/sponsorship confusion and cannot be used to repackage claims that are, in substance, attempts to control copying of copyrighted expression.
- State unfair competition and misappropriation theories fail where they function as substitutes for copyright protection or lack evidence of deception-type misconduct.

## Conclusion

The court entered summary judgment for CBS, Top Kick, and Chuck Norris, concluding that the television series did not copy protectable expression from the film, that the retroactive license from the copyright owner authorized CBS’s use, and that plaintiff’s Lanham Act and New York unfair-competition/misappropriation theories were legally and factually insufficient.


Lone Wolf McQuade Assocs. v. CBS, Inc., 961 F. Supp. 587 (S.D.N.Y. 1997)