The movie Ted is about a teddy bear that falls, after a brief period of fame, into a life of sex, drugs and drinks. Quite funny, especially when you know that the teddy bear can talk and is a rather foul-mouthed teddy bear.
The movie was a success and received a lot of attention. Amongst others from Bengal Mangle Productions, a media company from California that produced already in 2008 some short movies about Charlie, a foul-mouthed teddy bear with a penchant for smoking, drinking and prostitutes. So, the idea was copied, an evident case of copyright infringement according to Bengal Mangle who started a court procedure.
But now the company concluded that the idea of Ted has been created independently of their creation after all. The court suit is withdrawn. A rather sweet ending and a too good to be true statement. Probably this withdrawal and the rectification are the result of a settlement which has been kept silent. And settlements cost money. With the movie Ted 2 coming, the money probably comes from the producer who is not wanting to take any risks in this respect. Understandable, but nevertheless too bad as it was an interesting question whether a foul-mouthed teddy bear can be regarded as sufficiently original in order to be protected under copyright law.