Guy Who Claims To Have Come Up With Kung Fu Panda Loses In Court
from the too-bad,-so-sad dept
With pretty much every super successful book, movie or TV show, someone pops up out of the woodwork to claim that it was really "their" idea, and they deserve some ridiculously large cut of the revenue. In the case of the movie Kung Fu Panda, we've already seen at least two different people claim credit. The first one has gone to trial... and lost. The jury actually found that Dreamworks had entered into an "implied" contract with writer Terrence Dunn... but then also found that they didn't actually use any of his ideas, so it didn't matter. These kinds of lawsuits really are nuisance suits, but rather than go back to obscurity, Dunn has already announced plans to appeal.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: copies, ideas, kung fu panda
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So Unfair
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Re: So Unfair
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This isn't a copyright case - it's a breach of contract case.
For once I have some sympathy with Dunn. It may be that he has been shabbily treated by Dreamworks. It all depends on the details of his dealings with them and their subsequent development of the project.
What is certain is that there will be cases similar to this in which the plaintiff does have a point. If Dreamworks were already working on the project - or if the idea for the project came from people in the studio who were unaware of the meeting with Dunn then Dreamworks are in the clear. However, if there is a clear causal link between Dunn's pitch and the eventual film then he has a moral case and, depending on the contract (his lookout to make sure it was in place) a legal one too.
Now it seems that the jury didn't agree with him, and I'd have to bow to their greater knowledge of the details - but you can't just dismiss Dunn as another copyright troll.
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Idea-submission is an awkward and often problematic area of IP. This is especially true in Hollywood (my favorite is the guy who claimed he was the first person to come up with the idea of cast bill cosy in a sitcom). But in other contexts, such as kids toys, idea-submission is basically all the protection that independent creators have got against the Parker Bros and Mattels of the world. We don't hear about these cases because the industry has developed ways, based in contract and arbitration, to keep them away from the jury. But to say that all idea-submission claims are meritless seems to be an incomplete view based on cherry-picked news coverage.
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If dreamworks promised to pay this guy and they didn't honor their end of the bargain, why shouldn't they be held accountable?
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Did he actually do any work on the film? So what if they used his idea, he didn't actually stick around to do any of the work. Now, it would be a different case entirely if he was promised work and reimbursement for said work, but then never received it.
For a thought exercise, I want you to look at two things. Look at Harry Potter, and the famous Japanese anime, Naruto. Both have remarkably similar ideas and concepts (trio of talented students, a snake user who was a student of the wise old master etc), released in the same year (1997). Now try and tell me that ideas can be protected, that one of the authors here can sue the other.
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Ideas can't be protected by copyright, but they can be protected by contract. If one author actually got the idea directly from the other and there was an agreement before disclosure then the second author may have to pay the first.
In that case it doesn't matter of how obvious the idea is, the contract supersedes all IP law.
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Instead I'd offer him a short term (trial) contract of work. If he came up with good ideas I'd keep him on - if not I'd let him go. either way the contract of employment (and associated payment) would ensure that anything he came up with belonged to me.
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This is exactly why entertainment companies do their best to discourage people from sending them content ideas -- they open themselves up for a lawsuit or three if they accept an idea, toss it, then come up with a similar idea somewhere down the road.
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The moral obligation is nothing to do with "ownership" it is just to do with honesty. If you get an idea from someone else then you should admit it and not pretend that you came up with it yourself. It doesn't give the other person any rights to money or control over what you are doing.
(and btw if you had the idea independently then - of course - you don't need to mention anyone else just because they had the same idea)
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Hmm..
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DreamWorks
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Yeah, but I was first to have the idea of suing people for developing ideas similar to ideas I have had first, so......
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Here is an Idea called personal responsibility
Fail to do that and there is only one person to blame, yourself.
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Dreamworks Steal?
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LOVE kung fu panda
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Re: LOVE kung fu panda
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Snail vs Snail Troll case
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