ABC, Hulu Escape Writer’s ‘Abbott Elementary’ Copyright Suit

ABC and Hulu escaped a copyright lawsuit from a writer who said the critically acclaimed television show “Abbott Elementary” ripped off her script about teachers working in an inner-city public school.

Writer Christine Davis’s treatment for “This School Year” wasn’t substantially similar to “Abbott Elementary” as the similarities she claimed were either unprotectable or not that similar, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said in an opinion Tuesday granting a motion to dismiss. Following teachers working in an under-resourced school and elements flowing naturally from that premise aren’t protectable, and the works’ concepts, plots and ...