Just days before the trial, Charlie Kessler has dropped his suit against Matt and Ross Duffer claiming they got the idea for Stranger Things from him.

Charlie says:

“After hearing the deposition testimony this week of the legal expert I hired, it is now apparent to me that, whatever I may have believed in the past, my work had nothing to do with the creation of Stranger Things. Documents from 2010 and 2013 prove that the Duffers independently created their show. As a result, I have withdrawn my claim and I will be making no further comment on this matter.”

According to Variety, he met the Duffer Brothers at a reception for a screening of “Honeymoon” at the Tribeca Film Festival:

“In Kessler’s account of the 2014 cocktail reception, Matt Duffer said, “We should work together. What are you working on?” He said he told the brothers a short film he had made about a mysterious disappearance in Montauk, and said he was seeking to produce a feature.”

The Duffers always maintained they never met Charlie and developed their idea from urban legends about the Montauk Project.

My take: This reminds me of advice someone gave me to never talk about your ideas. You see, ideas can’t be copyrighted; only the expression of ideas can be copyrighted. In Canada, creating a written work automatically grants copyright to the author. So, maybe don’t be blabbing on about your idea until you have a first draft.