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Supreme Court Won't Take 'Who's on First' Copyright Case
First the copyright infringement case over the use of Abbott and Costello's “Who's on First” routine in a Broadway play was dismissed by a New York federal judge. Then it rounded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but was tagged out again. Now, in its third at bat, the lawsuit struck out with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review the case.
The High Court denied the plaintiffs TCA Television Corp., Hi Neighbor and Diana Abbott Colton's petition for a writ of certiorari, which claimed that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was wrong to uphold the dismissal of the case against the creators of the play Hand to God.
The play, authored by Robert Askins, is the story of Jason, a shy and repressed boy with a satanic sock puppet named Tyrone. Jason performs segments of the legendary Abbott and Lou Costello comedy routine, slightly over a minute in all, to impress a girl in his very religious hometown. When Jason fibs that he made up the routine himself, Tyrone calls him out on the lie.
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