Can You Keep Up With Everyone Suing Over How Avatar 'Stole' Its Story?
from the keep-up dept
Thanks to the rise of "ownership society" where intellectual property maximalists like to push the concept that you can "own" ideas, any time there's a remotely successful book, movie or TV show, we hear about lawsuits from people insisting that the idea for the story was "stolen." Of course, almost none of these have any merit whatsoever. However, when it comes to the movie Avatar, it seems like the movie didn't just break box office and overall revenue numbers -- it's breaking records with lawsuits from people trying to get a piece of the action as well. In the past we've written about multiple different lawsuits against James Cameron over where the story came from. Most of these were pretty laughable -- just people who had written stories with vague plot similarities. However, they keep coming.Not sure why it's all happening now, but three new lawsuits have been filed from people claiming that the Avatar story was "stolen." One of the lawsuits is asking for $2.5 billion in damages. For one of the most cliched and overused plotlines around. Wow.
However, that article at THResq also notes that one of the earliest lawsuits over this was unceremoniously dumped as a judge reminded the plaintiff, Kelly Van, that "plot similarities are abstract ideas that are not protected by copyright." The court also noted that the dialogue was entirely different, and the attempt to show similarities was pretty laughable:
The examples provided by the Plaintiff fail to show any similarities that would rise to the level of being substantial. Such examples lack similarities in vocabulary and meaning, only vaguely referencing a similar abstract idea at times. For example, the dialogue, "It was all a big secret back then and up until four years ago we didn't even know that there was a science base clear on the other side of the planet, unavailable to any of us" and "There's a mobile link up at Site 26 we can work out of, way up in the mountains" share no similarities other than the general idea that a second remote science facility exists on each planet.It goes on like this busting every single claim of copying. I imagine most of the other lawsuits will face the same result. It's really too bad that courts haven't done much in the way of awarding attorneys fees on lots of these kinds of lawsuits. There were similar lawsuits around Harry Potter, the Davinci Code and even Hannah Montana, and they're such a huge waste of time. Wouldn't it be nice if people finally realized that just because you had a story idea, it doesn't mean that no one else came up with something similar?
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They both involve invasions from other planets. They both attempt a peaceful solution to the invasion. We and the Na�vi both learn that the invaders are amoral consumers of resources who have destroyed every other planet they�ve/we�ve come into contact with. We and the Na�vi contact other countries/tribes to get them on board for the coming battles. Right before the final battles President Whitmore and Jake Sully give over-the-top impassioned speeches about how the invaders must be defeated to save their planets from eradication. And despite overwhelming odds, we and the Na�vi defeat the invaders using a combination of the invader�s technology with our/their own.
.... and Pocahontas. Both stories deal with foreigners attacking a less technologically advanced culture and how one of the attackers has to change sides to save the woman he loves.
But yet no one ever argues that Independence Day ripped Pocahontas. Heck, when H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds, not a single person complained that he stole Pocahontas' life story.
The same is true of Star Wars. People have claimed that it was merely a ripoff of such disparate sources such as ancient myths, of Flash Gordon, of the Japanese story The Hidden Fortress, and a retread of a western set in space.
It should be clear to anyone with a brain that the underlying ideas of the stories are common because they're very popular.
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Humans will be humans...
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As for Dances with wolves, it is just the outcast having to adapt. See hachet.
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FTFY
They're popular because they're universal. If you're looking for themes of foreign invaders looking for resources and inter-tribal relationships between people caught in the middle, Pocahontas is a relatively new example compared to the vast history of military campaigns and imperialism dating back thousands of years.
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Contract Rights
I have designed games in the past and one thing I know from the gaming industry is that they never accept cold submissions. Before they even look at or talk about your idea contracts are signed to protect both parties (mainly the company) from any problems down the line based on stolen ideas. Doesn't this same sort of thing exist in the movie industry?
If these people shopped their screenplay to Cameron and were turned down then they might have a legal leg to stand on. Otherwise they are SOL.
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I just posted a reply to a comment and now that comment is missing.
Techdirt are you having DB problems?
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C'mon!
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I think it's funny that people say that Avatar ripped off both Independence Day...
They both involve invasions from other planets. They both attempt a peaceful solution to the invasion. We and the Na�vi both learn that the invaders are amoral consumers of resources who have destroyed every other planet they�ve/we�ve come into contact with. We and the Na�vi contact other countries/tribes to get them on board for the coming battles. Right before the final battles President Whitmore and Jake Sully give over-the-top impassioned speeches about how the invaders must be defeated to save their planets from eradication. And despite overwhelming odds, we and the Na�vi defeat the invaders using a combination of the invader�s technology with our/their own.
.... and Pocahontas. Both stories deal with foreigners attacking a less technologically advanced culture and how one of the attackers has to change sides to save the woman he loves.
But yet no one ever argues that Independence Day ripped Pocahontas. Heck, when H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds, not a single person complained that he stole Pocahontas' life story.
The same is true of Star Wars. People have claimed that it was merely a ripoff of ancient myths, of Flash Gordon, of the Japanese story The Hidden Fortress, and a retread of a western set in space.
It should be clear to anyone with a brain that the underlying ideas of the stories are common because they're very popular. And after a while they become so popular for so long, they become universal.
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I just posted a reply to a comment and now that comment is missing.
We screwed up. Working on it.
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I agree.
Just for fun, let's start a list of preexisting works that Avatar might have "stolen" from.
I submit the movie FernGully: The Last Rainforest
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http://theoatmeal.com/comics/aliens_avatar
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To put it another way: Popularity is determined by people. Universality is determined by reality.
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Recurring Meme
Campbell, Joseph - The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Polti, Georges - The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
If any of these lawsuits fall through, I wonder if anyone could sue Homer's Illiad and/or Odyssey of infringement.
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Funny Story
It baffles me that some people with similar situations would actually be stupid enough to sue. So what if they had a similar idea? If I ever decide to use my story as a plot for a movie or whatever in the future, I'm gonna look for ways to surpass In Time and make way more money than I ever would from suing them. Frankly, it wouldn't be very difficult; it wasn't a very good movie.
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As for Avatar, its basic elements were completely unoriginal. Only Cameron's execution of the ideas made it unique (and thus successful). If anyone tries telling me that the story was either original or innovative, I'll assume I'm talking to a moron. That doesn't, however, mean that he ripped anyone off by using those elements, as most of them can be traced back hundreds of years.
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Tarzan
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Avatar bad
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Re: Avatar bad
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