'MacGyver' movie spoof faces lawsuit

The forthcoming big screen spoof of '80s TV series MacGyver is facing a lawsuit from the original show's creator Lee Zlotoff, says Latino Review.

MacGruber, which is based on the Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, parodies the series' premise of a secret agent who often relies on his Swiss army knife to bail him out of precarious situations.

Zlotoff has been issuing cease and desist orders to MacGruber backers Relativity Media and Universal and is considering filing copyright and trademark lawsuits to get an injunction against the film's release.

"We feel they're infringing our rights," Zlotoff's lawyer Paul Mayersohn told The Hollywood Reporter.

Zlotoff, who is developing a movie remake of the action-adventure show, believes that the parody does not make "fair use" of the MacGyver rights.

"There's a broad right to parody, and in this instance it's clearly parody," said Alonzo Wickers of Los Angeles law firm Davis Wright Tremaine. "I don't think a viewer will believe the MacGyver folks authorised this."

MacGruber is slated to open in US cinemas on April 23. Forte, Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Jason Bateman and Val Kilmer are among the cast for the Jorma Taccone-directed comedy.