Woman sues Tyler Perry for copyright infringement

Woman sues Tyler Perry for copyright infringement

MARSHALL, Texas — Tyler Perry went to court to face allegations that he stole material from someone else for his blockbuster film “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

Donna West is suing the actor-screenwriter for copyright infringement in U.S. District Court and wants a jury to award her family all profits made from the film.

“I can’t put my play on because the stories are basically the same and nobody wants to see that again,” she said.

West testified Tuesday that she developed a script titled “Fantasy of a Black Woman” based primarily on her own experiences. With her in the starring role, the play was performed in July 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center.

“The play was opened to the public. Anyone could have attended,” West said.

Perry’s movie, which earned some $50 million, came out in 2005. Jurors on Tuesday watched the film and listened to a reading of the script from West’s play.

Folk singer Odetta dies

NEW YORK — Odetta’s monumental voice rang out in August 1963 when she sang “I’m on My Way” at the historic March on Washington, where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

She had hoped to perform again in Washington next month when Barack Obama is inaugurated as the nation’s first black president. But the acclaimed folk singer, who influenced generations of musicians and was an icon in the civil rights struggle, died Tuesday after battling heart disease. She was 77.

She was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital with kidney failure about three weeks ago, Yeager said in confirming her death.

With her classically trained voice and spare guitar, Odetta gave life to the songs by workingmen and slaves, farmers and miners, housewives and washerwomen, blacks and whites.

First coming to prominence in the 1950s, she influenced Harry Belafonte, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and other superstars of the folk music boom.

Today’s birthdays

Game show host Wink Martindale is 74. Actor-producer-director Max Baer Jr. (“The Beverly Hillbillies”) is 71. Singer Southside Johnny Lyon of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes is 60. Actor Jeff Bridges is 59. Guitarist Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington Collins Band) is 57. Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 53. Bassist Bob Griffin of The BoDeans is 49. Singer Vinnie Dombroski of Sponge is 46. Actress Marisa Tomei is 44. Comedian Fred Armisen (“Saturday Night Live”) is 42. Rapper Jay-Z is 39. Actor Kevin Sussman (“Ugly Betty”) is 38. Model Tyra Banks is 35.