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A production company has withdrawn its lawsuit alleging that “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane stole the idea for the R-rated talking teddy bear in the hit movie “Ted,” according to court papers obtained Tuesday.
Bengal Mangle Productions alleged last year in Los Angeles federal court that MacFarlane based the Ted character on a foul-mouthed teddy bear named Charlie featured in a 2008 screenplay called “Acting School Academy.”
The complaint claimed that the Charlie character exists — like Ted — in a “human, adult world with all human friends. Charlie has a penchant for drinking, smoking, prostitutes and is a generally vulgar yet humorous character.”
The movie “Ted” was directed, co-written and produced by MacFarlane, who also voiced the teddy bear character in the comedy starring Mark Wahlberg. The film grossed $550 million worldwide.
“Acting School Academy” became a web series that was shown on YouTube, Facebook, iTunes and elsewhere, generating over 1 million views between July 2009 and June 2012, according to the complaint.
In a filing Monday, Bengal Mangle said it was satisfied that, “based on discovery produced in the action, the character Ted was independently created by Seth MacFarlane using his own efforts and creativity and was not copied from plaintiff’s Charlie character.”
— City News Service