(2009) Tags: Fox
Moore v. Lightstorm Entertainment
Ryder v. Lightstorm Entertainment, Inc.
Gerald Morawski v. Lightstorm Entertainment Inc
Van v. Cameron
Dean v. Cameron
SCHKEIBAN v. Cameron
Clay v. Cameron
Moore v. Lightstorm Entertainment
Plaintiff Bryant Moore, is a science fiction writer who has written several original works, including the screenplays “Aquatica” and “Descendants: The Pollination.” Moore seeks various forms of relief from Defendants for allegedly using content from Moore’s copyrighted works to create the movie “Avatar”.
Moore alleges that his copyrighted works pre-date the “Avatar” screenplay and that there is substantial similarity between his copyrighted works and “Avatar”, such that the film and its screenplay infringe his copyrights. He alleges that Defendants selectively extrapolated themes and content from his copyrighted works and used these “selective and substantial extracts” to “develop, write, and produce the movie Avatar.”
Moore requests actual damages and profits in excess of $1,500,000,000, a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendants from infringing further upon his copyrighted material, an accounting of all gains by Defendants’ infringement of his copyrighted works, declaratory relief relating to his copyrights, punitive damages in excess of $1,000,000,000, and statutory damages, attorney’s fees, and costs.
Judgment: ORDERED, that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 118] is GRANTED; and it is further ORDERED, that Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is DENIED; and it is further ORDERED, that Defendants’ Motion to Strike is DENIED AS MOOT; and it is further ORDERED, that judgment for costs be entered in favor of all Defendants.
Ryder v. Lightstorm Entertainment, Inc.
Plaintiff Eric Ryder claims that defendants James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment, Inc. fraudulently expressed interest in developing Ryder’s science fiction story “KRZ 2068” and used parts of that story in Cameron’s 2009 film “Avatar”.
Judgment: Summary judgment is GRANTED to defendants James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment, Inc.
Gerald Morawski v. Lightstorm Entertainment Inc
Plaintiff alleges he pitched his story “Guardians of Eden” to James Cameron and Lightstorm in 1991 and claims his story was used to create the film “Avatar”.
Judgment: Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that plaintiff take nothing by way of his complaint; and that the action be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
Van v. Cameron
Plaintiff claims that the film “Avatar” infringed on a book that she authored entitled, “Sheila the Warrior; the Damned”.
Judgment: In favor of Defendants. The court grants Cameron, Twentieth Century Fox, and Lightstorm attorney fees in the amount of $24,815.75
Dean v. Cameron
Plaintiff William Roger Dean, a successful artist, brings this action against James Cameron, the renowned writer and director; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment; and Lightstorm Entertainment. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants, through their work on the blockbuster 2009 feature film Avatar, infringed his copyright on fourteen “original artworks created and owned by Plaintiff.”
Plaintiff, for his part, alleges that he sees avatars of his own work in Avatar’s biosphere. The Amended Complaint does not specify which parts of the film constitute “the infringing portions of Avatar.” But from a review of the parties’ memoranda of law and the artwork that Plaintiff alleges to have been infringed, it appears that there are five aspects of Avatar’s ecosystem in dispute: (1) the “Hallelujah Mountains” (2) the “Stone Arches”; (3) the “Hometree”; (4) the “Tree of Voices” and the “Tree of Souls”; and (5) some Pandoran wildlife, including “banshees,” “thanators,” “wolf-like predators,” “six-legged horse-like creatures,” and “woodsprites, small, bioluminescent jelly-fishlike creatures.”
Judgment: Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED and the Amended Complaint is dismissed in its entirety.
SCHKEIBAN v. Cameron
Plaintiff Elijah Schkeiban alleges that James Cameron’s movie “Avatar” infringed the copyright of his book and screenplay “Bats and Butterflies”.
Judgment: The district court ruled that the works are not substantially similar.
Clay v. Cameron
Cynthia Clay filed this lawsuit against James Cameron, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and Dune Entertainment III, LLC, alleging copyright infringement. Ms. Clay alleges that Mr. Cameron, in the motion picture Avatar, stole elements of her book, “Zollocco: A Story of Another Universe.”
Ms. Clay restricts her allegations of substantial similarity to the following elements of her story: (1) Mr. Cameron copied the name of the heroine in the infringing work; (2) the priestess in the story is marked by wearing the color blue, while the alien heroine in Avatar has blue skin; (3) in Zollocco, the human character is able to interact with other races and worlds through telepathy, while in Avatar the human characters control their “avatars” by means of projected thoughts; (4) both works involve sentient forests that attempt to teach the human characters the lesson of living in harmony with the natural forest; (5) in both works the forests at the center of the plots are threatened by corporate interests; (6) Mr. Cameron uses the title of Ms. Clay’s work as a battle cry in a scene in Avatar; and (7) the movie borrows specific incidents and dialogue from Ms. Clay’s work