Writer Settles Claim Against Film ‘Amistad’

An author who had accused DreamWorks SKG of stealing ideas from her book about a slave revolt to make the movie “Amistad” has settled her $10-million claim after concluding “that neither Steven Spielberg nor DreamWorks did anything improper,” the studio said in a statement late Monday.

The statement provided no further details and did not say whether the agreement included any financial settlement.

But the wording of the statement by author Barbara Chase-Riboud suggests a clear vindication for DreamWorks and for Spielberg, who had vigorously contested the accusation that his movie was based on cribbed material.

DreamWorks lawyer Bert Fields said the suit had no merit because, among other things, no one can copyright historical events.

Chase-Riboud, author of “Echo of Lions,” had sued DreamWorks in October, contending that many of “Amistad’s” ideas about the 1839 slave ship revolt were taken from her book. The suit, pitting a little-known novelist against perhaps the most powerful filmmaker in the world, gained widespread attention.

In early December, a federal judge said that Chase-Riboud “raised serious questions going to the merits of her copyright-infringement claim” but sided with DreamWorks in denying her motion to stop the release of “Amistad.”

Chase-Riboud, represented by attorney Pierce O’Donnell, had presented a seemingly strong set of circumstances surrounding her claim.

Nine years ago, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, then an editor at Doubleday, submitted a copy of her friend Chase-Riboud’s manuscript about a true-life revolt on the Spanish slave ship L’Amistad to Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment for consideration as a movie. Amblin executives met with Chase-Riboud but passed on the project.

O’Donnell, who could not be reached for comment, also noted in legal filings that David Franzoni, the screenwriter on “Amistad,” had once been retained to adapt Chase-Riboud’s book by another company. Both Spielberg and Franzoni, however, said they had never read her book.

After DreamWorks rejected Chase-Riboud’s claims, the case took a series of nasty turns, with attorneys for the movie studio trying to turn the tables on Chase-Riboud by contending that she herself had been guilty of plagiarism in some of her novels.

DreamWorks attorney Fields also said Chase-Riboud was “obviously trying to make a living off suing people over her books.” He said the author, an African American, “should be proud of this picture. . . . Instead of supporting a project which is based on the work of leading black historians, she’s attacking it in order to grab money for herself. It’s a sorry sight.”

Spielberg said in an affidavit in the case that “Amistad” is “an extraordinarily important film” and that stopping its release would be “a tragedy for our company, but I believe it would also be a serious loss to the American public.”

The film, which cost $75 million to make and market, opened to mixed reviews and has done moderate business at the box office.

In earlier settlement talks, sources said DreamWorks offered to pay the author $500,000 and give her a line in the movie’s credits suggesting that people read her book, “Echo of Lions.” Chase-Riboud and her lawyers rejected the settlement, asking for $2 million and a screen credit acknowledging her book as a source.

In the statement released by DreamWorks late Monday, Chase-Riboud said: “After my lawyers had a chance to review DreamWorks’ files and other documents and evidence, my lawyers and I concluded that neither Steven Spielberg nor DreamWorks did anything improper, and I instructed my lawyers to conclude this matter in a timely and amicable fashion. I think ‘Amistad’ is a splendid piece of work, and I applaud Mr. Spielberg for having the courage to make it.”