Luv2Roam
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2000
- Messages
- 15,479
Eye, eye, eye, Pixar
Jim Cole
How many people does it take to invent a smiley eyeball with legs? That's what I was left asking after reading the latest copyright infringement lawsuit against Pixar Animation Studios, this one brought by a Florida artist who claims Monsters Inc. character Mike Wazowski originated in his sketch pad. Late last week, the suit was shipped from a Florida court to the Northern California District Court, where another Wazowski paternity suit is pending. The Florida judge ruled with Pixar that the latest suit belonged in California where all the witnesses, documents and characters in the case reside. Artist Keith Campbell claims he created the "Running Eye" well before Wazowski came along and put the character on T-shirts and other merchandise that Disney and Emeryville-based Pixar could have seen and copied. Stick it in your ear, Pixar tells Campbell in its court filings. Pixar artist Ricky Nierva says Wazowski was born in mid-1997 in one of his West Coast sketch pads. Then he goes on to list all the Pixar people involved in designing Wazowski. In all, it took 12 Pixar employees - 11 guys and a woman who doesn't work there anymore - to create what is basically a smiling eyeball with legs and arms.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.
Jim Cole
How many people does it take to invent a smiley eyeball with legs? That's what I was left asking after reading the latest copyright infringement lawsuit against Pixar Animation Studios, this one brought by a Florida artist who claims Monsters Inc. character Mike Wazowski originated in his sketch pad. Late last week, the suit was shipped from a Florida court to the Northern California District Court, where another Wazowski paternity suit is pending. The Florida judge ruled with Pixar that the latest suit belonged in California where all the witnesses, documents and characters in the case reside. Artist Keith Campbell claims he created the "Running Eye" well before Wazowski came along and put the character on T-shirts and other merchandise that Disney and Emeryville-based Pixar could have seen and copied. Stick it in your ear, Pixar tells Campbell in its court filings. Pixar artist Ricky Nierva says Wazowski was born in mid-1997 in one of his West Coast sketch pads. Then he goes on to list all the Pixar people involved in designing Wazowski. In all, it took 12 Pixar employees - 11 guys and a woman who doesn't work there anymore - to create what is basically a smiling eyeball with legs and arms.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.
