Warner Brothers Settle Dukes of Hazzard Lawsuit  6/30/05

Movie studio bosses at Warner Brothers have settled with a Georgia producer after he claimed they'd infringed on the copyright to his 1974 movie, which was the basis for the Dukes of Hazzard TV series and new film.

Warner chiefs agreed to the hefty $17.5 million  deal after federal judge Gary Allen Feess (corr) declared Robert Clark had a case and slapped a preliminary injunction on the release of the new movie, starring Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson and Seann William Scott.

So, rather that face having to fight for copies of the $55 million (#30.5

million) film, which is still set for release on 13 August (05), from federal marshals, the studio heads paid up.

Clark's obscure film Moonrunners is acknowledged as the project which inspired the original Dukes of Hazzard TV series.

Ironically, the settlement paid to the producer is more than the casting budget for the new Dukes of Hazzard movie.