Judge: DeLorean widow can’t go back in time for royalties

Great Scott!

Newark federal court told the widow of car-maker John DeLorean to make like a tree and get out of here — when it tossed her lawsuit claiming she was robbed of royalties from the “Back to the Future” movies.

Sally DeLorean claimed a Texas company using the DeLorean name had been illegally plundering her share of profits from ads and merchandise for the film series featuring her late husband’s iconic car.

But a judge dropped some “heavy” news Friday when he ruled that Sally gave up her rights to the royalties in 2015, when she settled a suit with the unsanctioned DeLorean Motor Company, allowing the bootleg business to legitimately use her late husband’s company name on replicas and related products.

John DeLorean — whose unique DMC 12 car went from commercial failure to cult classic when it starred as a time machine in the 1985 Michael J Fox flick — cut a deal with Universal Pictures in 1989 that gave him and his heirs 5 percent for promotions featuring his car and logo “as a key component.”

The Texan DeLorean Motor Company is an unaffiliated business that started out selling spare parts and doing restoration work for the 9,000 original DMC 12s, according to Business Insider — and Sally sued the outfit in 2014, alleging it was illegally profiting from John’s work through merchandise and replicas.

The two parties settled the following year, with Sally retaining the rights to John’s name and life story but agreeing to let the company use the DeLorean name and logo.

The settlement didn’t mention the Universal agreement, and Sally argued in her recent suit that the royalties weren’t part of the deal — but US District Judge Jose Linares disagreed.

“As both agreements apply to the use of the word ‘DeLorean’ and the DMC logo, and relate to the DeLorean automobile’s image, the Court concludes that the subject matter of the agreements overlap,” he wrote in his opinion.

With Post Wires