'The trials depicted in the two works are dramatically different in substance, setting, plot, theme, language, and the overall thrust and feels of the works,' U.S. In the play, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, the venue is Hope, a place in purgatory. In Michaels' novel, Solomon presides over Iscariot's trial in a fictional World Court of Religion at the federal courthouse in New York's Foley Square. While Iscariot is in purgatory or hell, his lawyers argue his case for entrance into eternal paradise. 'Stripped of unprotectible elements - such as biblical characters and biblical story - the works are not substantially similar,' a federal judge in Manhattan ruled, referring to Michaels' novel, 'Judas on Appeal,' and the play 'The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.'īoth works feature the trial of Judas Iscariot, who, after betraying Jesus Christ, hanged himself from a tree. (CN) - An author can't copyright the idea of putting biblical betrayer Judas Iscariot on trial for admission into heaven, a federal judge ruled, dismissing writer Guy Michaels' lawsuit against the playwright, director and producers of a play based on the same concept.

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