Spike Lee Sued in Wrong Place Over ‘American Skin,’ Court Says

A duo of filmmaking brothers filed their suit claiming producer Spike Lee ripped off their work to make the movie “American Skin” in the wrong place, a Washington, D.C., federal court found.

Changing the World Films LLC accused Spike Lee, movie producers, and others involved with “American Skin” of lifting plot lines, characters, and themes from their screenplay “A Routine Stop.” But the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled it didn’t have jurisdiction over any of the defendants as none of them “transacted relevant business in the district.”

The court’s Dec. 2 opinion declined to credit the ...