---
title: "US appeals court upholds Apple’s Servant verdict"
description: "The Ninth Circuit rejected filmmaker Francesca Gregorini's appeal over alleged plagiarism of her 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel."
url: https://mactoreality.com/us-appeals-court-upholds-apples-servant-verdict
published: 2026-10-23T09:14:16Z
updated: 2026-10-23T09:14:16Z
author: "Mac to Reality Newsdesk"
category: Rumours
tags: ["Apps","Regulation & legal"]
publisher: Mac to Reality
ai_assisted: true
apple_heat_impact: 1
---

# US appeals court upholds Apple’s Servant verdict

*The Ninth Circuit rejected filmmaker Francesca Gregorini's appeal over alleged plagiarism of her 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel.*

**Key points**

- The Ninth Circuit upheld the jury verdict clearing Apple and M. Night Shyamalan of copyright infringement over the Apple TV+ series Servant.
- Filmmaker Francesca Gregorini sued in January 2020, claiming Servant plagiarised her 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel and seeking up to $81 million in damages.
- The appeals court rejected both of Gregorini's appeal grounds, including her challenge to the jury instructions on 'widespread dissemination'.

A US appeals court has upheld the January 2025 jury verdict that cleared Apple and M. Night Shyamalan of copyright infringement over the Apple TV series *Servant*, Reuters reported on 22 October.

The Ninth Circuit rejected the appeal by filmmaker Francesca Gregorini, who sued Apple and Shyamalan in January 2020, alleging that *Servant* plagiarised her 2013 film *The Truth About Emanuel* and seeking up to $81 million in damages. The lawsuit was initially dismissed before being reinstated and going to trial, where the jury viewed both the film and the first three episodes of *Servant* before ruling that the creators had not had access to Gregorini’s film (via 9to5Mac).

On appeal, Gregorini argued that the jury instructions on “widespread dissemination” were insufficient, and that the trial judge should have answered a juror’s question about the term before accepting the verdict. The appeals court rejected both arguments, finding that the instructions accurately reflected the law and that the judge did not abuse her discretion (via AppleInsider).

*Servant*, a psychological thriller starring Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free and Rupert Grint, ran for four seasons on Apple TV+ and concluded in 2023. Shyamalan called the lawsuit “clearly, 100% a misunderstanding.”

## Sources

- [Reuters: Reuters report](https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/apple-shyamalan-convince-us-appeals-court-uphold-tv-show-copyright-win-2026-10-22/)
- [9to5Mac: Apple wins again in copyright infringement battle over Apple TV thriller series](https://9to5mac.com/2026/10/22/apple-wins-again-in-copyright-infringement-battle-over-apple-tv-thriller-series/)
- [AppleInsider: Appeals court upholds Apple TV's 'Servant' plagiarism lawsuit win](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/10/23/appeals-court-upholds-apple-tvs-servant-plagiarism-lawsuit-win?utm_source=rss)

*This report was written by the Mac to Reality newsdesk with AI assistance from the sources listed above, under the editorial policy at https://mactoreality.com/editorial-policy.*