Judge permits $900 million lawsuit against Warner Bros. over 'Conjuring' series

A U.S. district court judge has permitted a lawsuit against Warner Bros., amounting to a whopping $900 million to go through. The lawsuit was filed by one Geralt Bridges in April over the studio's alleged copyright infringement by means of producing 'The Conjuring' and its spinoff 'Annabelle', based on the life and works of the Warrens, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

In his lawsuit(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/warner-bros-facing-900-million-lawsuit-conjuring-franchise-990107), which was filed in April, Bridges, author of The Demonologist, based on the life and works of Ed and Lorraine Warren, claimed that there was a clause in the agreement between him and the couple that they would not enter any motion picture deal with any studio without his explicit consent. However, the two went ahead and made a deal with Warner Bros., which then brought in New Line Cinema to produce the financially and critically successful horror movie franchise.

Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema challenged the lawsuit, saying that no one can hold a monopoly on telling a story based on real-life events and people, and also brought up limitation statues and the Copyright Act itself to defend their position. They additionally requested the case be moved to arbitration instead of a trial.

However, the judge, John Gibney Jr., struck down Warner Bros.' argument and declared that the case will, in fact, be moving to a trial court. However, Gibney is also allowing, for now, the non-copyright state-based claims with word that more factual development is needed.