NBA star LeBron James is being sued and accused of stealing the “intellectual property rights” to a film he helped produce, Black Ice.
Billy Hunter, former executive director of the NBA Players Association, filed a lawsuit in the New York state Supreme Court claiming he secured the rights to the story based on a novel about the Colored Hockey League, a former segregated league for black players.
In addition to James, the lawsuit also lists Maverick Carter, James’s business partner, rappers Drake and Future, George and Darril Fosty, the original novel’s authors, and several affiliated publishing and production companies.
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“I don’t think they believed the property rights would be litigated,” Hunter told the New York Post. ”They thought I would go away. They gambled.”
Hunter is seeking $10 million in damages and a share of the film’s profits.
“While the defendants LeBron James, Drake and Maverick Carter are internationally known and renowned in their respective fields of basketball and music, it does not afford them the right to steal another’s intellectual property,” the court complaint said, claiming that Hunter paid $265,000 for the movie rights to the story.
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The film is set to be showcased at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10.
