Irony? Paramount Pictures Sues 'The Godfather' Author's Estate

Doesn't this usually happen the other way around?

Apparently, Paramount Pictures feels that the estate of late The Godfather author Mario Puzo overstepped its bounds and authorized the penning of too many sequels. As it now stands according to Entertainment Weekly, the studio that distributed all the "The Godfather" films by director Francis Ford Coppola is now suing Anthony Puzo and his father's estate to block May's release by Grand Central Publishing of the prequel The Family Corleone.

Following Mario Puzo's 1999 death, the studio authorized publishing one sequel, 2004's The Godfather Returns. Since that time, The Godfather's Revenge was released in 2006, and now this year's completed prequel by Ed Falco. Paramount's suit claims that the additional titles have "tarnished" the franchise, that their respective printings have led to erroneous association of the books and Paramount by fans, and that the Puzo estate will use The Godfather trademarks in promoting The Family Corleone.

Grand Central Publishing did not respond when EW.com requested a comment, but last year's press release touting the coming prequel announced that the book "takes place before the Corleones' rise to power and tells the unknown history of how Vito Corleone fought to survive in the brutal criminal underworld to become the influential and respected Don in The Godfather." Anthony Puzo declared "Ed Falco has written a novel that is true to Mario Puzo's legacy, and will be cherished by all Godfather fans."

Paramount - it's time to get what's called "a grip." This is one of the many times when legality and reality don't intersect.

Copyright and licensing laws are black-and-white. That's certainly understandable. Where an act might damage a work's value, the holder of the rights has the power to protect said value.

However, let's go point by point: Paramount claims that the franchise has been "tarnished" by adding on to it? That's an ironic statement, considering that half the combined three movies Paramount distributed consisted of story that was tacked on to Puzo's original novel. For the record, had executives and attorneys had acknowledged the realities of vocal fan perception, they'd see that if anything is believed by many fans and more than a few critics alike to have "tarnished" the franchise, it was the third movie.

Second, there's this business about erroneous association between Paramount and the books: the truth is, nobody really cares. Seriously, I couldn't have remembered off the top of my head who distributed the movies, nor did I care. Nor do most fans. All that most readers and lovers of the franchise will care about is simply whether the book is any good. It's a sanctimonious statement of Paramount's inflated ego that they would think anybody really cares who owns the rights to the franchise. For that matter, the movies have taken on such iconic status, that it's easy for many people to forget the whole series started as a single novel whose complete story was stretched across a movie and a half. Paramount isn't bigger than The Godfather.

Finally, there's this business about the trademarks. Let's see, this is a pretty easy one to predict. Paramount will throw a conniption about this if the book ends up being a mediocre seller or just plain bad. If it ends up being a best-seller and someone sees a potential movie? Paramount will be beating down Anthony Puzo's doorstep and dumping money by the dump truck-load on his doorstep to sell off the rights.

But even more importantly, this is a situation where Paramount would do well to do right by the legacy of the man without whom, the studio wouldn't have such lucrative rights over which to bicker. It would be seen as a far bigger gesture to just say "You know what? We owe this hallmark franchise that we produced, distributed and marketed to the work of the late Mario Puzo. The very least we can do in gratitude - and, yes, apology for 'The Godfather Part III' - is let his estate license literary sequels, as long as we maintain the film rights."