The Estate of Philip K. Dick has started legal proceedings against Media Rights Capital over payments resulting from the Matt Damon movie The Adjustment Bureau.

According to Justin. M. Goldstein, the attorney from Carlsmith Ball LLP who is bringing the case for The Philip K. Dick Testamentary Trust,  “Philip K. Dick’s trust and heirs were partners every step of the way in lending time, support and cooperation during the development, production, marketing and release of The Adjustment Bureau. Almost immediately after the movie was released and the money started to roll in, the filmmakers and Media Rights Capital attempted to cut the Trust out entirely, and grab every last dollar for themselves.  To try to justify this greedy move, they claim that contracts and copyright filings which they, their lawyers, and agents reviewed and approved — and which the U.S. Copyright Office blessed not once but twice — are now wrong. On behalf of the millions of fans worldwide of this visionary science fiction author, it truly saddens us that the matter had to reach this point.”

The case appears to hinge on the date of the original appearance of the short story, The Adjustment Team, on which the film was based. MRC are basing their claim on its magazine publication in 1954,  but the Estate maintains that its first appearance for purposes of copyright was in a collection of Dick stories published in 1973, and the magazine publication was done “without the knowledge of the author.”  

If MRC are correct, then under US copyright law, it would seem the material is in the public domain. MRC became involved in 2009 when they bought the material which writer and director George Nolfi had optioned back in 2001. The Estate wants the terms of that option to be adhered to.

At present, MRC has not responded to the allegations.

With Syfy intending to create a TV series based on the movie, the rights issue will need to be resolved speedily.

Read our review of The Adjustment Bureau here.