Jim Carrey and Jerry Seinfeld in a still photo from "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." Photo: YouTube

Jerry Seinfeld has won a copyright lawsuit against a former collaborator who claimed to have come up with the idea for the hit series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan of the Southern District of New York ruled Monday that the suit by Christian Charles, a writer and director who worked with Seinfeld on the show's pilot, was barred under the three-year statute of limitations for copyright infringement claims.

In a nine-page ruling, Nathan said that Charles knew about his potential claim for ownership as early as 2011, when Seinfeld twice rejected his request for back-end compensation on "Comedians in Cars," making it clear that Charles' only involvement was on a work-for-hire basis.

But Charles, who claimed to have pitched the idea of two friends "driving and talking" to Seinfeld, did not file his lawsuit until February 2018.

According to court documents, Charles worked up a treatment and shot a pilot with Seinfeld when the comedian began developing the show in 2012. The two later had a falling out over Charles' demands for compensation and ownership. Though he was eventually paid nearly $108,00 for his work, Charles had no further involvement with the show.

Charles said in court filings that between 2012 and 2014, he "maintained a reasonable and good faith belief" that Seinfeld would eventually acknowledge his ownership and "bring him in" on the show, which debuted as a popular web series on the streaming service Crackle.

In wasn't until Netflix inked a lucrative deal to bring the show onto its platform in 2017 that Seinfeld's lawyer told Charles directly that Seinfeld was the sole creator and owner of the show, he said.

However, Nathan said that Seinfeld's early rejections were enough to put Charles on notice of his copyright claims, and it was clear that Seinfeld went on to produce the show without him.

"Even if all inferences are drawn in favor of Charles, a reasonably diligent plaintiff would have understood that Seinfeld was repudiating any claim of ownership that Charles may have," Nathan wrote.

"Because Charles was on notice that his ownership claim had been repudiated since at least 2012, his infringement claim is time-barred," she said.

Orin Snyder, a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner who represented Seinfeld, called the ruling "complete vindication" for his client.

"Jerry created 'Comedians in Cars' and this lawsuit was nothing but a money-grab seeking to capitalize on the success of the show," Snyder said in a statement. "We are pleased that the court saw through the noise and dismissed the case."

Peter Skolnik, who represented Charles, said in a strongly worded statement that he intended to appeal the decision.

"The only thing that has protected Mr. Seinfeld—so far—from having to answer for his arrogant and unprincipled theft of Christian Charles's property is the district court's mistaken analysis of the applicable statute of limitations," said Skolnik, of Clark Guldin in Montclair, New Jersey.

Seinfeld was represented by Snyder and David M. Kusnetz of Gibson Dunn in New York.

The case was captioned Charles v. Seinfeld.

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