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Perhaps afraid that the Peter Jackson spec adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones that was offered up for a studio bidding war on Monday might find its way into the hated, LOTR royalty-withholding clutches of New Line and be rushed into a competing production before someone ponies up eight figures for the rights, Jackson's lawyers have issued a friendly cease-and-desist note to an industry assistant tracking board that is sharing the script with its members. The c-and-d is now making the rounds on other tracking boards and popping up in inboxes around town, letting everyone know that Bones is for pre-approved eyes only:

Re: "Lovely Bones" Cease and desist from further copyright violations

To Whom It May Concern:

We are counsel for Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. It has come to our attention that a copy of our clients' screenplay "The Lovely Bones" has unlawfully been placed on this tracking board without the consent of our clients, whose copyrighted works are being illegally exploited. A secret id word has been imbedded [sic] in each copy of the screenplay and we are presently investigating the source of the leak and appropriate action will be taken.

We hereby demand that the webmaster of this tracking board immediately remove the screenplay from the site and that all individuals immediately cease and desist from any further dissemination of the screenplay. Our clients own all the right, title, interest and copyright in the screenplay and anyone coping, offering and/or distributing the screenplay is infringing on their copyright in violation of the U.S. Copyright Act, Title 17 of the United States Code Section 101, et.seq., and is exposing themselves to criminal liability. Please be aware that infringement of copyright can result in criminal prosecution such as when an individual continues to distribute infringing items after being placed on notice by the copyright holder. If anyone continues to copy, offer and/or distribute the screenplay in violation of the US Copyright Act and our clients' rights, we will contact the proper authorities and aggressively pursue a criminal investigation and prosecution against the infringing individuals. Please govern yourself accordingly. This letter does not constitute a complete and exhaustive statement of all of our clients' rights, claims, contentions or legal theories regarding this matter. Nothing stated here is intended as, nor should it be deemed to constitute a waiver or relinquishment of any of our clients' rights or remedies, whether legal or equitable, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

Sincerely,

Nelson Felker Toczek Davis LLP

The Jackson camp should probably take pains not to throw too big a scare into the assistants; if the entire script-covering underclass finds itself too paranoid to touch Bones for fear they're holding a copy with the "secret id word" embedded within (we're guessing it's something like "fucknewline"), negotiations for the sale might stall indefinitely as annoyed studio execs are forced to actually read the screenplay themselves.