Judge to dismiss Carol Burnett's lawsuit

Sat May 26, 4:12 AM ET

A federal judge said he will dismiss Carol Burnett's $2 million copyright infringement lawsuit over the use of her cleaning woman character in the animated series "Family Guy."

U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson said in a written tentative ruling Friday that he planned to dismiss the lawsuit against 20th Century Fox. He will issue a final ruling later.

The 74-year-old comedian sued the studio in March, contending that the Fox show didn't have her permission to include her Charwoman character in an April 2006 episode.

The episode portrayed the character as a cleaning woman in a sex shop and also used a version of the theme music to her old TV series without permission, the lawsuit claimed.

At the time, the studio said it was surprised by the lawsuit over what amounted to about an 18-second scene.

A call to 20th Century Fox Television spokesman Chris Alexander on Friday was not immediately returned.

Burnett's attorney, Robert Denton, could not immediately be reached for comment.