Apple’s Escape from ‘Servant’ Copyright Claims Axed by 9th Cir.

Claims that Apple TV+ show “Servant” infringed a 2013 movie shouldn’t have been dismissed, much less deemed unreasonable enough for Apple Inc. to win attorneys’ fees, the Ninth Circuit ruled.

Director Francesca Gregorini identified enough similarities between “Servant” and her “The Truth About Emanuel” to press on to discovery, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said one week after oral argument. Alleged similarities range from the general concept of a mother who lost a child hiring someone to care for a doll to specific cinematic choices that aped her own.

The three-page opinion, while nonprecedential, provides ...