'Deep Throat' firm out to block Lovelace biopic

The production company that owns the rights to the pornographic movie Deep Throat has filed a lawsuit to block distribution of the movie Lovelace, a biography of the adult film star.

Arrow Productions, owner of the rights to the 1972 movie, filed a US$10 million copyright lawsuit in the District Court in Manhattan against producers of the film, starring Amanda Seyfried, and the distributor, The Weinstein Company.

Lovelace chronicles the formative years of porn star Linda Lovelace (born Linda Boreman), her abusive marriage to Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard), and how she came to be in Deep Throat. The lawsuit contends the production company used more than five minutes of footage from Deep Throat without a licence or permission. The title Lovelace gets its market appeal entirely from the cultural cachet of the trademarked name Linda Lovelace, Arrow Productions said.

Representatives for the defendants, who include Millennium Films and United Entertainment, did not comment.

Lovelace premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is set for release.