Canadian Author Sues Judd Apatow for Stealing Knocked Up Idea

I don’t think anyone saw Judd Apatow’s romantic comedy “Knocked Up” doing so well at the box office, and I suspect no one saw this lawsuit by Canadian author Rebecca Eckler coming, either. Eckler claims that Apatow stole the idea for “Knocked Up” from her, and points to similarities between her book and the film, in which an up-and-coming TV reporter gets drunk at a party and then gets pregnant from a one-night stand. In Eckler’s 2004 book, she’s an up-and-coming newspaper reporter who gets drunk and “knocked up” after celebrating at her engagement party. Coincidence or theft?

More from The Hollywood Reporter:

She claims that while pitching her book to Hollywood producers, she learned of Apatow’s project and the script, which she says had on it a picture of a martini glass with a pacifier around the stem — the same as the cover of her book.

Apatow said in a statement through his representatives that the book and film were very different.

“Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience,” said the statement, posted on TMZ.com.

I smell “out of court” settlement…