TBN MOVIE DRAWS COPYRIGHT SUIT

A suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleges that parts of Trinity Broadcasting Network’s movie The Omega Code were plagiarized. Sylvia Fleener, a West Virginia minister, charges that Paul and Jan Crouch “willfully copied” sections of her novel, The Omega Syndrome which she wrote in 1989 and copyrighted in 1996.

The suit claims Fleener financially supported TBN for a number of years. She gave a copy of her book to the Southern California-based television ministry by way of “mutual friends and associates” prior to the production of the film according to a report in The Orange County (Calif.) Register. Fleener’s work is said to have “many similarities” in “story, plot, characters and themes” to the TBN movie. She is seeking $40 million in damages.

Daniel Quisenberry, attorney for Fleener, told the newspaper that his client “was told 32 years ago that she would live only two years. She feels that she has been preserved to bring the matter forward.” TBN’s attorney, Colby May, responded that “Challenging the independent development of ‘The Omega Code’ is flat wrong.” He added, “Be clear that ‘The Omega Code’ was an original work which Trinity [Broadcasting Network] had separately commissioned.”

TBN’s motion picture was released to theaters across the country in October 1999 and earned a respectable share of attendance ratings for the fall season. Earlier this year, it moved to the home video market where it received similar acceptance and profitability. The film cost $7 million to produce. A sequel, The Omega Code II is currently in production.

—MKG

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