[1] This script written by Timothy Anderson was unsolicited and unauthorized, a key fact that led to a decision in favor of the defendants in the lower court and was later resolved in an out-of-court settlement during the pendency of plaintiff's appeal.
[2] Timothy Burton Anderson, an author who wrote a script for the film Rocky IV, brought the suit for copyright infringement, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and breach of confidence against Stallone, MGM, and other parties.
According to Anderson's complaint filed with the court, in October 1982, Anderson met with Art Linkletter, a member of MGM's Board of Directors, at his Bel Air home; with Freddy Fields, then-president of MGM/UA at his Culver City office; and also had meetings during the Summer of 1983 with then-Board Chairman Frank Yablans and MGM/UA Vice President Peter Bart.
Anderson claimed that MGM told him that if they used his script he would be paid a large sum of money.
The Court determined that the characters from the original movies were afforded copyright protection, using a standard borrowed from Judge Learned Hand in Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp..