Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Leave it to a Costanza to cook up an elaborate moneymaking scheme--only to have the whole thing blow up in his face.

In a case of life imitating art, the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division on Thursday dismissed a $100 million lawsuit by one Michael Costanza, who claimed the sitcom Seinfeld stole his life for the show's resident loser, George Costanza.

In the unanimous decision, the court upheld a lower court's ruling that Jerry Seinfeld and the rest of the Seinfeld braintrust did not violate Michael Costanza's privacy rights when they created George.

And, in a final indignity, the court is also making Costanza and his lawyers fork over $5,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

Truth be told, Costanza, a 43-year-old real-estate agent from Long Island, had some resemblance to the tube-based Costanza--the real-life version is also short and bald with peculiar hang-ups about bathrooms and parking spaces. He claimed the defendants had violated his privacy rights by using his "name, likeness and persona" to create the neurotic and nutty character--this, after appearing as a guest on the show!

Costanza says he and Seinfeld met when the two were studying at Queens College. When Seinfeld aired years later, he noticed the sitcom's character, played by Jason Alexander, had some of the same physical and personality traits, and had even held some of the same jobs.

The lawsuit also claimed that, like his supposed TV alter ego, Michael Costanza had a high-school gym teacher who belittled him as "Can't-Stand-Ya." Michael Costanza's lawyer said these likenesses were damaging his client's life.

Publicists for Seinfeld scoffed at the notion Costanza was based on anyone but Larry David, the show's executive producer. David, a longtime Seinfeld buddy, called Costanza a "flagrant opportunist" who greatly exaggerated his relationship with Seinfeld.

The appeals court agreed, saying the show's creators did not use Costanza's "name, portrait or picture," except in one episode in which the plaintiff himself appeared briefly as an actor.

The judges also said the statute of limitations had run out, since Costanza did not sue within one year of the show's inception in 1989.

Or, as the lower court judge, Justice Harold Tompkins, originally wrote in his 1999 ruling: "While a program about nothing can be successful, a lawsuit must have more substance."