A California federal judge granted NBCUniversal’s motion to dismiss a copyright infringement suit over the network’s sitcom Animal Practice.  An attorney and his production company claimed the series was based on a treatment he wrote about an animal hospital, but US District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell ruled that the plot, characters and other details of the works were different, explaining that the alleged similarities were too general and “also common to other comedic shows.” The court awarded defendants attorneys’ fees, holding the plaintiff was unreasonable in “arguing. . . that the idea of a sitcom set in an animal hospital was novel enough to support a copyright infringement claim.” Joel Weiner, Gail Migdal Title and Christopher Carter represented NBCUniversal in this matter. (“C.D. Cal.: NBCUniversal Wins Dismissal and Fee Order in Idea Theft Case Over TV Sitcom,” October 30, 2013; “NBC Wins Toss of Animal Practice Copyright Suit,” September 6, 2013).