Studio says it doesn't want new work tarnishing the legacy of the famed franchise.

12:44 PM PST 2/21/2012 by Eriq Gardner
The Hollywood Reporter

Paramount Pictures is demanding that the estate of author Mario Puzo not license any more literary sequels to The Godfather. The studio has filed a lawsuit against Anthony Ruzzo, the son and executor of his late father's estate, and is seeking an injunction precluding any further alleged copyright and trademark infringement.

According to Paramount's complaint, the studio gained a copyright interest in Puzo's famed novel, The Godfather, in 1969, which granted it "the sole and exclusive right: to make and cause to be made literary and dramatic and other versions and adaptations of every kind and character."

The agreement paved the way for the legendary Francis Ford Coppola film in 1972, as well as two movie sequels.

Puzo died in 1999, and after his death, the estate run by his son expressed an interest in "sequel novels" written by other authors.

Paramount says that in 2002, it agreed, and the parties entered into a "Memorandum of Understanding" that purportedly allowed the Puzo estate to grant Random House the right to publish one -- "but only one" -- sequel novel.

As a result, The Godfather Returns was published in 2004.

But then, Puzo estate went beyond the agreement, alleges Paramount, by allowing without its knowledge, a second sequel, entitled The Godfather's Revenge, to be published in 2006. Sales were not good.

"Far from properly honoring the legacy of The Godfather," says Paramount in its latest complaint, a copy of which was obtained by THR. "The unauthorized The Godfather's Revenge tarnished it, and in the process, also misled consumers in connection with advertising, marketing, and promotional material related to the first and second sequel novels."

Paramount believes that the Puzo estate is getting ready for a third sequel novel and is going to court to make sure that doesn't happen.

The two parties have been at legal odds with each other before. In the early 1990s, the sides argued over revenue pay-outs from from audio-visual products embodying elements of the Godfather pictures. Even after Puzo and Paramount came to an understanding, years later, they were back in court over royalties from the successful Godfather line of video and computer games. That litigation was eventually settled too, but the bad blood between the two families obviously remains.

The Puzo estate couldn't be reached for comment.

Paramount Pictures wants an upcoming book sequel to “The Godfather” to sleep with the fishes.

The movie studio filed suit Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court, putting a legal hit on the scheduled July publication of “The Family Corleone.”

The book, based on an unpublished screenplay written by “Godfather” author Mario Puzo, could damage “the integrity and reputation of the Godfather trilogy — one of the most acclaimed and beloved artistic works of the past 50 years,” the lawsuit claimed.

RELATED: JAMES CAAN ON 'THE GODFATHER' LEGACY

The lawsuit accuses Puzo’s son of copyright infringement, and seeks an injunction to halt the book’s release along with damages.

Paramount says it purchased the “Godfather” copyright from Mario Puzo in 1969. The best-selling author shared two best screenplay Oscars with Francis Ford Coppola for their collaboration on “The Godfather” and “The Godfather II.”

The studio asserts it had an agreement with Puzo's son Anthony to publish a single sequel, "The Godfather Returns," in 2004. Mario Puzo died five years earlier.

A second sequel, "The Godfather's Revenge," was published two years later — but Paramount says that was done without its approval.

Both works were authored by Mark Winegardner, the director of creating writing at Florida State University.

The first was an acclaimed bestseller, but the second fared poorly — generating mediocre reviews and weak sales, the lawsuit charged.

“Far from properly honoring the legacy of ‘The Godfather’ the unauthorized tarnished it and in the process misled consumers into believing that ‘The Godfather's Revenge’ was authorized by Paramount,” the lawsuit said.

"The Family Corleone" tells the tale of Vito Corelone's rise to power in Depression-era New York — territory covered in “The Godfather II,” with Robert De Niro playing the immigrant boss.

The author is novelist and short-story writer Ed Falco, who oversees the creative writing program at Virginia Tech.

Wow, this could get interesting. At the very least, won't this delay the new prequel novel; "The Family Corleone"?

I would think there would have been a clause in the contract that allowed all the rights to the Godfather to revert back to the Puzo estate if Paramount didn't make any more Godfather movies. This happens with superhero movies all the time -- studios make them so the rights don't revert back to Marvel Studios.

Since Paramount hasn't made a Godfather movie in 22 years, they don't have much of a case, IMO.

Puzo quite famously got raped when he sold the book to Paramount. He never got over it, either. If you read "The Last Don," you'll see a lot of anger directed at the studios in that book (that's actually what ruined it for me). I don't think his family shares in any of the video game proceeds and that's what they're most angry about. But honestly, who would have thought of a video game clause in a movie contract 40 years ago?

Why did they allow Winegardner's novels?

Reuters – 1 hr 31 mins ago

The estate of "The Godfather" author Mario Puzo has fired back at movie studio Paramount Pictures with a $10 million counterclaim over Paramount's attempts to block a new book in the Mafia saga.

Lawyers for the estate of Puzo also sought to end Paramount's rights to the 1969 best-seller, which went on to become an Oscar-winning movie released by the studio.

"Mario Puzo brought vast wealth to Paramount at a time when they desperately needed it. Now that he's gone, Paramount's trying to deprive his children of the rights he specifically reserved," Bertram Fields, an attorney for the Puzo family, said in a statement on Tuesday.

"I promised Mario I'd protect his kids from this kind of reprehensible conduct. Paramount wanted a war, and they're going to get one - only the stakes will be much higher than they thought," Fields added.

Paramount filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in February that accused Puzo's heirs of approving sequels to "The Godfather" without the studio's permission and in violation of earlier agreements.

A third book "The Family Corleone" is due to be published in May. It is billed as an all-new prequel to "The Godfather" set in New York in 1933.

The counterclaim, filed on Monday, said Puzo's estate had informed Paramount several times of the upcoming publication of "The Family Corleone" and noted that the movie studio had not objected to the book "The Godfather's Revenge" in 2006.

Moreover, the estate said, Puzo received only "minimal payment" from Paramount for the rights to "The Godfather" and that the agreement at the time excluded rights to any further books that include the characters from "The Godfather" in new and different situations.

"The Puzo Estate, representing the children of Mario Puzo, needs no permission from Paramount to use the title of their father's novel or to publish a sequel novel or to use what Paramount claims are 'the Godfather works'," the counterclaim said.

Attorneys asked the court to terminate the rights of Paramount to the original "The Godfather" book and asked for $10 million in damages.

Paramount could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Mario Puzo died in 1999. The two sequels to the story of the Corleone Mafia family that have been published since his death were written by U.S. author Mark Winegardner, and the forthcoming third novel is written by Ed Falco.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

I have a question - would you read this new book? I read the first Weingartner book and was lukewarm about it. It was interesting to see an interpretation about what happened to the characters, although parts of it were out of left field. The second book was just awful and I didn't even finish it.

Thankfully, if I choose to give it a try I can just get it from the library and save the $20 from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.