The Latest Brokeback Lawsuit

This story comes to us courtesy of BlackNews.com by way of Towleroad Author Janice Scott-Blanton has filed a $250 million copyright infringement lawsuit against the makers of Brokeback Mountain claiming similarities between scenes in the movie and scenes from her 2005 novel, My Husband is on the Down Low and I Know About It. "To support her allegations, Scott-Blanton has cataloged over 50 substantial similarities between the two bodies of work; these similarities range from subtle to the stark." Some of those "stark" similairites include scenes in a bar, a bedroom, and a kitchen. Add this to the list of seemingly spurious lawsuits directed at the Ang Lee film. (Anyone remember Randy Quaid's suit about a year back?) Given the fact that Brokeback Mountain was based on a 1997 Annie Proulx short story and the fact that the screenplay for it was completed in 2004 (both dates which precede Scott-Blanton's novel), I think this latest lawsuit stands a pretty good chance of getting dismissed. But I'm thinking Scott-Blanton knows that, and this frivolous suit is just a creative way to draw some publicity to her novel. For what it's worth, it is currently ranked #478,448 for book sales on Amazon. I'm curious to see if the Amazon sales ranking improves as a result of the lawsuit announcement, though on principle I refuse to provide the link here.