Fleetwood Mac Book Co-Authors Sue STEREOPHONIC For Alleged Copyright Infringement
Kenneth Caillat and Steven Stiefel, co-authors of the memoir Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album, have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against playwright David Adjmi, along with the producers of Stereophonic. The plaintiffs claim that the Tony Award-winning play is an unauthorized adaptation of their copyrighted memoir.
According to the lawsuit, Stereophonic has grossed over $20 million since opening in April 2024 and was promoted as "The Most Tony-Nominated Play of All Time," winning five Tony Awards, including Best Play. The plaintiffs allege that the show’s success was built on material taken from their memoir without permission, asserting that Stereophonic is "substantially similar" to Making Rumours.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 30, 2025 3:00 AM
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Now that the show has broken even and is set to turn a profit, Adjmi is trying to settle to avoid a very damaging and costly trial. He could lose a huge amount of money due to his co-opting another writer's work. It was the height of arrogance to think he could just lift other people's work and get away with it. They're suing him for everything he has and for a piece of all of it forever.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | January 18, 2025 5:16 AM
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No, R2, not now. The lawsuit was initiated in October.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | January 18, 2025 6:17 PM
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Good. BTW, I don't care how many awards it won. It was long, pretentious, and boring.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 18, 2025 7:41 PM
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I disagree, R4, but that's okay.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 18, 2025 8:49 PM
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When I glanced at the headline I thought "There's a MacBook called Fleetwood?"
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | January 18, 2025 9:51 PM
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I haven't really followed this..... but Adjmi lifted material that only exists in the book? through the book authors interviews with the band?
the proper way would have been to secure rights with the book authors before Adjmi ever set pen to paper?
now, it may cost him a lot more in the long run?
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | April 30, 2025 1:40 AM
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I haven’t read the book, but having seen the play, it does almost nothing to hide the Fleetwood Mac overtones—the character’s genders, country of origin, and musical talent line up very similarly. But it begs the question, was any of this not common knowledge? Has any band besides, perhaps, The Beatles been more written about? Not sure, but I’m surprised the show’s lawyers hadn’t vetted this possibility more. It’s going on the road so there’s more money to be made. Side note: I can’t imagine understudying for this show with all of the necessary musical talents for the various parts.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 30, 2025 2:48 AM
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The plaintiffs are likely to lose. I’m a longtime and huge Fleetwood Mac and Stevie fan and collector, and everything in Stereophonic that mapped onto the band members and to the making of Rumours specifically, all the little “easter eggs” throughout the show (like the Lindsey character’s brother being an Olympic-level swimmer) was stuff we fans have picked up from countless interviews and other books over the decades. I’ve never opened Ken Caillat’s book.
Also Stereophonic is careful enough to win a legal claim that the play is about fictional characters inspired obviously by FMac. Fictional.
Nice try but they won’t win this one.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | April 30, 2025 2:57 AM
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R4 It was unlike any other album when it was released during the 70s and sounded exactly right then. I think it still holds up.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | April 30, 2025 2:57 AM
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⬆️ I think R4 didn’t mean Rumours the album, rather meant Stereophonic the play. It sure was LONG.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 30, 2025 3:00 AM
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