Brian D. Siff (No. 2435394) DUANE MORRIS LLP UNITED …

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Brian D. Siff (No. 2435394) DUANE MORRIS LLP 1540 Broadway New York, NY 10036 Telephone (212) 692-1055 Fax (212) 208-2430 bdsiff@

Attorney for Plaintiff

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

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CHRISTIAN CHARLES

Plaintiff,

Civil Action No. 1:18-cv-01196AJN-KHP

v.

JERRY SEINFELD, COLUMBUS 81 PRODUCTIONS, INC., EMBASSY ROW, LLC, COMEDIANS IN CARS, LLC, SONY PICTURES TELEVISION INC., NETFLIX, INC.

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

Defendants.

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Plaintiff Christian Charles ("Charles" or "Plaintiff"), by and through his undersigned counsel, submits this First Amended Complaint against defendants Jerry Seinfeld, Columbus 81 Productions, Inc., Embassy Row, LLC, Comedians in Cars, LLC, Sony Pictures Television Inc., and Netflix Inc. (collectively, "Defendants"), which alleges as follows:

SUBSTANCE OF THE ACTION 1. Through this action, advertising creative, writer and commercial/film director Christian Charles seeks to hold Defendants accountable for their knowing and willful unauthorized

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copying of critical elements of Plaintiff's copyrights in his treatment, script, and pilot for the show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (collectively, "Plaintiff's Copyrights" or "Plaintiff's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee") and which provide the basis for Plaintiff's claims for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. ? 101 et seq., and for substantial and related claims of breach of implied-in-fact contract, tortious interference with prospective business relations, quantum meruit, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and unfair competition, under the common law of New York. As described below, Defendants have copied an appreciable amount of Plaintiff's copyrights--including the entirety of Plaintiff's copyrighted pilot--despite Plaintiff's insistence on fair compensation. Plaintiff seeks damages and attorneys' fees.

PARTIES 2. Christian Charles ("Charles" or "Plaintiff") is an advertising creative, writer and commercial/film director and resident of the State of New York. Charles is the sole owner of the copyrights at issue. 3. Jerry Seinfeld ("Seinfeld" or "Defendant"), is a comedian and resident of the State of New York. 4. Defendant Columbus 81 Productions, Inc. ("Columbus 81" or "Defendant") is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York, with a place of business at 685 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10017. 5. Defendant Embassy Row, LLC ("Embassy Row" or "Defendant") is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, with a place of business at 325 Hudson Street, Ste. 601, New York, New York 10013.

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6. Defendant Comedians in Cars, LLC ("Comedians in Cars" or "Defendant") is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the State of New York, with a place of business at 10 Meadow Brook Road, Katonah, New York 10536.

7. Defendant Sony Pictures Television Inc. ("Sony Pictures Television" or "Defendant") is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, with a place of business at 10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California 90232-3195.

8. Defendant Netflix, Inc. ("Netflix" or "Defendant") is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, with a place of business at 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, California 95032.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE 9. This Complaint arises under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. ? 501 and the common law of New York. 10. This Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. ?? 1331 (general federal question jurisdiction), 1338(a) and (b) (specific federal question jurisdiction), and 1367(a) (supplemental jurisdiction) because this action involves the infringement of federally registered copyrights. This Court has jurisdiction of the other common law claims herein under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. ? 1338(b) in that those claims are joined with a substantial and related claim under the Copyright Laws of the United States, 17 U.S.C. ? 501 et seq. 11. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants by virtue of their commission of tortious acts inside and outside of New York that have an effect within this state. 12. Venue is proper in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ?? 1391(b) and (c).

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FACTS COMMON TO ALL CLAIMS Charles' Successful Career in Advertising, Television, and Film 13. Christian Charles is a multi-award winning advertising creative, writer and commercial/film director. Throughout his career, Charles has contributed to many major television and film projects, including: writing and art directing commercials for American Express, Pepsi, Lucas Films, Hershey, and Ford as well as over a dozen Super Bowl commercials for other famed brands; developing, writing, producing and directing shows for premier cable networks such as NBC, MTV, E! Entertainment, and Comedy Central; directing and producing four theatrically released films, including the documentary Comedian; and, collaborating with major film studios such as Miramax, New Line Cinema, and DreamWorks Animation. For his work, Charles proudly holds industry awards such as CLIOs, EFFIEs, and Cannes Bronze and Gold Lions. 14. Today, as the Co-Founder and President of mouseROAR LLC--a "soup-to-nuts" content provider specializing in unique entertainment for internet, television, film and mobile devices--Charles and Co-Founder, Anne Estonilo ("Estonilo") develop branded entertainment projects with a complete worldwide marketing strategy for digital series, sit-com, episodic television, documentary, and feature films.

Charles' Creative and Business Relationship with Seinfeld 15. For nearly two decades, beginning in 1994 with Charles' writing and art direction of the highly popular and award-winning American Express commercials featuring Seinfeld, Charles and Seinfeld cultivated a rewarding and profitable creative and business relationship. 16. Throughout Charles' and Seinfeld's creative and business relationship, when they collaborated, any materials or project development were disclosed in confidence and were not to

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be disclosed to others or used beyond the limits of the confidence without prior payment or consent.

17. After their positive experience collaborating on the American Express commercials, from 2000 to 2002, Charles created, proposed, and directed the documentary Comedian featuring Seinfeld. This documentary was based on a conversation with Charles, Charles's producer Gary Streiner ("Streiner"), and Seinfeld about Seinfeld's return to comedy clubs after a long hiatus to work on a new stand-up act.

18. As set forth in the express agreement for Comedian, the profits from Comedian were allocated as such that after Seinfeld's personal recoupment of investment, the net profit was split 50% to Columbus 81, owned by Seinfeld, and 50% to Bridgnorth Films, Inc., a company created and co-owned by Charles and Streiner.

19. In September of 2000, as part of the production of Comedian, Charles and Streiner filmed Seinfeld's friend Barry Marder's ("Marder") return to New York City from a cross-country drive as they crossed the George Washington Bridge in Seinfeld's newly-purchased vintage Volkswagen Beetle. Seinfeld expressed great interest in the footage and inquired to Charles how it might work in the context of Comedian, to which Charles suggested filming two friends driving and talking in a car as a unique television show.

20. Further to Charles' and Seinfeld's discussion of pursuing the television show suggested by Charles, on November 13, 2001, Charles created the television show treatment for a project entitled `67 Bug, with an alternative title Two Stupid Guys In A Stupid Car Driving To A Stupid Town (the "Two Stupid Guys Treatment"). The Two Stupid Guys Treatment comprised Charles' unique visual and structural style utilizing specific cinematic details to create a distinct and complete narrative approach to the show.

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21. In the fall of 2002, Charles and Streiner pitched the Two Stupid Guys Treatment to Seinfeld, however, to Charles' and Streiner's surprise--and incongruent with Seinfeld's earlier enthusiasm for the project--Seinfeld rejected the Two Stupid Guys Treatment.

22. Despite rejecting the Two Stupid Guys Treatment, Charles continued to collaborate with Seinfeld on many projects from 2002 through 2011. Their relationship throughout this period included collaboration as well as Seinfeld seeking to have Charles write, direct, and produce original content for Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica Seinfeld.

23. From 2008 through 2010, Seinfeld engaged Charles and mouseROAR to write, produce, direct and create marketing strategies for projects in which Seinfeld starred. These projects included extensive marketing programs for Seinfeld's and DreamWorks Animation's animated movie "Bee Movie," and Seinfeld's commercial project with The Greater, an Australian financial institution. During this time, Seinfeld also engaged Charles to develop his website, , for which Charles conceptualized creative approaches to the website interface and content, commissioned website developers to execute the project, and filmed Seinfeld performing stand-up comedy for Seinfeld's joke archives. In 2010, Seinfeld and NBC Universal engaged mouseROAR to develop, produce, and direct a promotional short for the launch of Seinfeld's television show "The Marriage Ref."

Charles' Creation of the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Treatment 24. At a meeting on July 30, 2011, at the Princess Diner in Southampton, New York, Seinfeld expressed to Charles that Seinfeld's representatives George Shapiro and Howard West ("Shapiro West") were pressuring Seinfeld to come up with a new television show and/or stream of revenue after the negative reception and cancellation of Seinfeld's television show "The

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Marriage Ref." Seinfeld expressed that Shapiro West told him that he was not creating anything new and that this had to change.

25. During the meeting, Seinfeld suggested to Charles that a show about comedians driving in a car to a coffee place and just "chatting" could work, to which Charles immediately pointed out that his suggestion was actually Charles' Two Stupid Guys Treatment that Charles had pitched to Seinfeld in 2002. Charles and Seinfeld agreed to develop further Charles' Two Stupid Guys Treatment, with Charles developing, directing, and producing the project.

26. In August of 2011, Charles began creating his Comedians in Cars Going for Coffee treatment (the "Treatment") (see U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0002055610, attached as Exhibit A), further to his Two Stupid Guys Treatment. The Treatment utilizes Charles' signature detailed visuals to demonstrate unique style, tone, and creative approach, comprising at least the following elements:

a) Opening the show with detail close-up shots of the host driving alone in the "hero vehicle," a vintage or collector's model car, accompanied by the host's voiceover highlighting the details of the car;

b) Introducing the guest wherever it is most convenient to them; c) Shots of the guests' neighborhood; d) Unique camera rigs and positions for car-in-motion filming;1 e) The host and guest driving and talking with no pre-interview, no audience, and

no instruction to the guest on the direction of the conversation; f) Detail close-up shots of the coffee and the elements of the coffee making;

1 At the time of development of the Two Stupid Guys Treatment between 2000-2002, camera technology made these set-ups more difficult to attain and required extensive development and design. In 2011, advancements in technology made these set-ups more easily attainable and Charles was able to fully realize his original vision for the show.

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g) Detail close-up shots of the diner or caf?; h) Detail close-up shots of the "hero vehicle"; and i) The host driving the guest home or to wherever they want to be dropped off. 27. Further to these elements, and in addition to the technical and creative camera learnings from Charles' development of the Two Stupid Guys Treatment, Charles also employed a creative and unique storytelling technique that he had executed extensively in his earlier work, using specifically selected "close-up studies" of items associated with a story or scene that add depth, mood and style as well as engage the audience with a narrative. 28. Charles previously employed these signature "detail shots" as a way of expressing events and relevant imagery that could augment a scene in many of his works in commercials and feature films, including in the end credits of the documentary Comedian as a graphic revisiting of the environments associated with Seinfeld's regrowth as a stand-up comedian. Charles used this same approach in his Treatment as the perfect way to express individual details of the car, show the preparation, culture, and specifics of the coffee at their destination, and express the progress of the conversation. 29. These Charles-driven elements, along with the stylistic choice of using wide-angle lenses, the music, the pacing, the schedule structure and limited crew interaction with talent, all comprise the essence of the visual style and tone of the show. 30. Throughout September 2011, Charles and Seinfeld spoke about "testing" the Treatment. Seinfeld's personal assistant Melissa Gastgaber ("Gastgaber") scheduled a meeting for Charles and Seinfeld to further discuss the Treatment at Seinfeld's office. 31. On September 22, 2011, at Seinfeld's office, Charles shared the Treatment with Seinfeld. At this meeting, Charles elaborated on his vision for style, tone, and creative approach,

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