Wayans Brothers Accused of Stealing Jokes?

The brothers that once starred in the 90’s sketch-comedy show In Living Color are now headed to court to solve a dispute about joke infringement with a former employee.

The last couple of years the Wayans brothers have delved into writing comedy books. One of these books was released in 2009, titled “101 Ways To Know You’re a Golddigger,” which was published by the company St. Martin’s Press.

Now its being reported that a former employee of ten years named Jared Edwards is suing Keenan, Marlon and Shawn Wayans for stealing his idea for the book as well as his jokes.

According to an article from Reuters published three days ago, “Because Edwards worked for the Wayans brothers, this case goes a bit above and beyond the typical plagiarism routine of a plaintiff struggling to prove the copying of expression rather than theft of unprotected ideas. Edwards is claiming that the Wayans (and St. Martin’s Press) not only committed copyright infringement but also breached an implied promise to pay him for use of his ideas.”

Trial for the case starts on July 12th. Already the lawyers for the Wayans have done a good job discrediting Edwards, including releasing stories that Edwards once threw a phone at Marlon, borrowed $12,000 from Shawn and at one point committed check fraud.

Because the book did not sell very well, the judge has decided to cap the damages that can be awarded to Edwards.

In the meantime, the Wayans will continue to promote their new show “Black Family” which will be aired by TBS. According to Shawn and Marlon, the show is “Brady Bunch meets South Park.”

Check out the Wayans Brothers on good Day LA:

Shawn And Marlon Wayans On GDLA: MyFoxLA.com

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