lawsuits

Seth MacFarlane Sued for Allegedly Copying Ted Idea

Host Seth MacFarlane speaks onstage during the Oscars held at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California.
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Seth MacFarlane is being sued for copyright infringement by a California production company, which claims that Ted’s titular teddy bear was a rip-off of their own lewd, hard-drinking teddy-bear character Charlie, who appeared in the series Charlie the Abusive Teddy and Acting School Academy. “Both Charlie and Ted reside in a substantially similar environment, including that both Charlie and Ted spend a significant amount of time sitting on a living room couch with a beer and/or cigarette in hand,” claims the suit from Bengal Mangle Productions — what, your teddy bear doesn’t? —  adding that “Charlie and Ted each have a substantially similar persona, verbal tone, verbal delivery, dialogue, and attitude.”

The suit goes on to detail the many similarities between the two bears, including similar posts across their social-media accounts and the fact that a number of the situations depicted in Ted resemble scenes from the two web series. It all sounds pretty damning, but considering that MacFarlane has 12 years of Family Guy experience, we’re guessing he has some pretty good lawyers on deck.

Seth MacFarlane Sued for Copying Ted Idea