Judge denies request to remove clip
Actress who appeared in anti-islam film wanted it off Youtube
LOS ANGELES— An actress who appeared in an anti-Muslim film trailer that sparked violence in the Middle East lost her legal challenge on Thursday to have the 14-minute trailer removed from YouTube.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin rejected the request from Cindy Lee Garcia be- cause she wasn’t able to produce any agreement she had with the makers of Innocence of Muslims, and the man behind the film hadn’t been served with a copy of her lawsuit.
Garcia’s attorney, Cris Armenta, said her client plans to return to court in three weeks with more evidence to bolster her case.
The video posted to YouTube has been linked to protests that continue to rage across the Middle East. The White House has asked YouTube to take it down and the company has refused, saying it doesn’t violate its content standards. The suit had little chance of succeeding because federal law protects third parties from liability for content they handle, legal experts said. Garcia is suing for fraud and slander against Internet search giant Google, which owns YouTube, and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the man behind the video who has gone into hiding. The 14-minute trailer depicts Muhammad as a womanizer, fraud and child molester. Garcia claimed she was duped by Nakoula and that the script she saw referenced neither Muslims nor Muhammad. She also said her voice had been dubbed over after filming. She said she has been threatened at least eight times and has called the FBI. Her lawsuit mirrors similar claims made by those who said they were fooled by actor Sacha Baron Cohen during the making of Borat and Bruno. “Although this is a much more serious situation, the (legal) analysis should be the same,” said Jeremiah Reynolds, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in intellectual property cases. “It’s an act that is protected by the First Amendment.”