Happy Days Cast Not So Happy: Suing CBS & Paramount For Missing Royalties
from the the-fonz-is-too-cool-for-court dept
Apparently most of the cast of the iconic sitcom Happy Days aren't particularly happy with CBS and Paramount right now, as they've filed a lawsuit against the two companies, saying those companies haven't been paying the royalties they owe the cast from home video sales and merchandise sales (there's still Happy Days merch on the market?!?). Notably missing from the lawsuit are stars Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, but much of the rest of the main cast is there. Amazingly, the lawsuit was apparently triggered by a Happy Days cast member seeing a Happy Days slot machine, and wondering why no royalties were being paid. After contacting Paramount to find out how much money was owed from merch, and being told the answer was (of course), none, they moved on to a lawsuit. What struck me as most interesting is that, typically in these types of lawsuits, the studios being sued claim that the actors are wrong. In this case, however, CBS actually put out a statement saying: "We agree that funds are owed to the actors and have been working with them for quite some time to resolve the issue." Of course, that should probably make you wonder if actors from other shows also need to file a lawsuit just to get what's owed to them...Filed Under: happy days, lawsuit, royalties
