The suit, filed Tuesday (Nov. 28) in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division, also names 'NSync's management company Wright Entertainment, manager Johnny Wright, tour merchandising leaders Winterland Concessions and its Winterland Productions, and merchandise consultant Rick Barlowe as defendants.
Krofft was hired to create the 25-foot puppets of each member of 'NSync for use in the group's memorable performance of "Bye Bye Bye" during the American Music Awards in January 2000. Krofft claims that they did not give permission for photographs of these puppets to be used elsewhere by the band, such as on the group's souvenir tour program for the No Strings Attached tour and other puppet merchandise sold at shows.
The suit states, "Beginning in the spring of 2000, defendants (without Kroffts' knowledge and consent) created, or authorized the creation of, derivative works based on the copyrighted Krofft Puppets owned by Krofft... Only the copyright holder, Krofft, has the right to create a derivative work based on the copyrighted Krofft Puppets. The 'NSync souvenir program is an unauthorized derivative work based on the Krofft Puppets."
According to the suit, Krofft says that after having granted oral permission to use the Krofft Puppets during the AMA performance, Krofft and the band's manager had a conversation about merchandise relating to the puppets. "At the time, Wright stated to Krofft, 'Don't worry, you are 'in' on any and all merchandise.' At the time of the conversation, no other terms were discussed," says the suit. A formal agreement was never made.
Krofft is asking for 10 percent of all monies received from sales of the 'NSync souvenir program, the backstage pass, and the other puppet merchandise that bear the image of the Krofft Puppets he originally created for the AMAs.