Was "Pirates" pirated?

[BlindTyldak]

Interesting, wwonder if they'd have to change the ride back if this guy (very likely doesn't) win?

How does one put the brakes on a $654 million juggernaut?


A screenwriter who says that he had pirates on the brain long before Johnny Depp inserted his first gold tooth is going to try.


Royce Mathew has sued the Walt Disney Co., Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Touchstone Home Video and 24 other related enterprises that had a stake in the 2003 blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl for copyright infringement.


In his complaint, available online at TMZ.com, the Florida resident claims that over the last two decades he "created and wrote a number of original works including drawings, screenplays, outlines, blueprints, storyboards, and other original materials which included multimedia works, which he generally entitled SNPM, standing for Supernatural Pirate Movie."


Just a working title, we presume.


He also stated that he eventually filed his drawings, which included sketches of a pirate ship that he named the Black Pearl, as well as a blueprint and screenplay draft for his ghostly pirate caper, with the U.S. Copyright Office. Mathew also says that he created characters called Will Turner and Elizabeth, along with an eccentric pirate captain and a cursed crew.


There was no immediate comment from either Disney or Bruckheimer on the complaint.


Mathew is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction prohibiting the 28 defendants from publicly displaying the movie (i.e. through DVD rentals, online downloading, soundtrack and merchandise sales, network broadcasts, etc.). Curiously, Mathew's suit was filed last Friday, just before the first of two planned sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, blasted the box office wide open, taking in a record $135.6 million and pretty much guaranteeing that this franchise is going to end up in billion-dollar territory.


Per the complaint, Mathew supposedly showed his early sketches and other materials to "a variety of employees and agents" of the named defendants, both privately and through the William Morris Agency and Creative Artists Agency, with the hope that his project would get the go-ahead. Alas, matey, he was told that his idea wouldn't make a "financially rewarding project."


But despite the fact that Disney has been linked with a certain swashbuckling theme park ride called Pirates of the Caribbean since 1968, Mathew felt that The Curse of the Black Pearl pilfered plot lines, event sequencing, characters, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, concept and its overall tone from his Supernatural Pirate Movie. Arrgh.


Although the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court's Central District of California does not mention Dead Man's Chest or the upcoming At World's End, slated for a May 2007 release, it asks the judge to issue an injunction against The Curse of the Black Pearl and "other infringing works."


Could that include the newly refurbished Pirates ride at Disneyland and Disney World, which since June 26 has featured animatronic Captain Jack Sparrow figures and a story line that's more in sync with the hit films?


While fellow codefendants Disneyland International and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts could theoretically be in for a fight, they've got on their side almost 30 years of history and one of the most powerful multimedia companies in the world. We're going to place a bet on the strength of Disney and, well, let it ride.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060712/en_movies_eo/19475

 

[TinkerTracy]

All I can say is wow.
I'll be looking to see how this turns out.

 

[civileng68]

I think this guy will be laughed at by a judge.

Why? Because he didn't file it after the first movie, when the Black Pearl was the primary part of the movie, while the chest in DMC is the primary part.

Also he timed it just to cause a problem before the release of the most recent movie.

I just find it funny.

First off, I think the guy just wants money. He's threatening to get the whole thing put on hold just to hope Disney will settle financially.

No judge (in my opinion) is going to take him seriously (he should have filed right after the first movie was released) and they're not going to make Disney stop doing anything.

Also, Im sure Disney's legal department is massive and Im sure they investigated the copyrights when they in fact filed their own for the same names and ideas.

 

[BlindTyldak]

I think this guy will be laughed at by a judge.

Why? Because he didn't file it after the first movie, when the Black Pearl was the primary part of the movie, while the chest in DMC is the primary part.

Also he timed it just to cause a problem before the release of the most recent movie.

I just find it funny.

First off, I think the guy just wants money. He's threatening to get the whole thing put on hold just to hope Disney will settle financially.

No judge (in my opinion) is going to take him seriously (he should have filed right after the first movie was released) and they're not going to make Disney stop doing anything.

Also, Im sure Disney's legal department is massive and Im sure they investigated the copyrights when they in fact filed their own for the same names and ideas.

Actually I think the guy was pretty smart. In the almost unheard of chance that he does actually have all these things copyrighted and evidence like sealed copies or letters from related parties confirming they had seen it, waiting until this point was the best thing he could have done. if he'd done it the instant the first movie came out, he would have gotten a flat settlement. Now that the financial success of the franchise is proven he could get a cut of the entire thing, including possible park revenue if he can prove Jack sparrow was completely his, though the article says he's laying claim essentially to Will and Elizabeth.

Either way I'm sure this will go the same way as the woman who sued JK Rowling and the guys who sued Dan Brown, but it's interesting regardless.

 

[Ambifins]

When Dan Brown was sued about the Davinci Code, one of his lawyers said: "where there's a hit, there's a writ."
Just saying.

 

[civileng68]

Actually I think the guy was pretty smart. In the almost unheard of chance that he does actually have all these things copyrighted and evidence like sealed copies or letters from related parties confirming they had seen it, waiting until this point was the best thing he could have done. if he'd done it the instant the first movie came out, he would have gotten a flat settlement. Now that the financial success of the franchise is proven he could get a cut of the entire thing, including possible park revenue if he can prove Jack sparrow was completely his, though the article says he's laying claim essentially to Will and Elizabeth.

Either way I'm sure this will go the same way as the woman who sued JK Rowling and the guys who sued Dan Brown, but it's interesting regardless.

I see your point but, at the same time, I think by waiting it shows that it's not so much about a violation as money.

 

[tmt martins]

In one of the sports I play in they had a name ( Of an item used for the sport it was small and never sold many but it was TM ).

Then this other guy comes along with this product far better then most had at the time ( same sport but different item and use ) .

1st guy just lets it build and lets it build even sells it through his stores.

Then right at it's peak he sues and ended up with most of the company and full disabution rights .

Now I'm not saying this guy is right or wrong only that sometimes it's better to wait to see what happens and the final outcome.

They hardly even win unless it's been distibuted in one form or another thats the real proof.

 

[Robo]

So what else is new?.

The EXACT same claim was made after the Lion King was released...

http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

and Finding Nemo.

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-53054.html

Characters and story points were "the same" as the Disney film.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

 

[SueM in MN]

One of the interesting things we picked up on our last trip to WDW in March was a copy of this book, Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies.
It has lots of pictures, diagrams, drawings and stories from the original planning of the original Disneyland attraction.
One of the things that was surprising to me was that the original storyline for the attraction included a cursed treasure and cursed pirates that (just like the movie) turned into skeletons in the moonlight. The book mentioned discussions about how they might have been able to pull that off, but the idea was scrapped because the Imagineers could not come up with a totally convincing way to make it work with the technology that was available in the early 1960s, when they were doing their planning.

So, if Mr. Royce Mathew shows his '2 decades' worth of ideas, I'm pretty sure that Disney can do a little better than that (like maybe 4 decades). The original Disneyland ride opened in 1967 and was in the planning stages for quite a few years before that.

 

[mking624]

This will be tossed out like all the others.

But the whole suing Dan Brown on the Da Vinci Code I find amusing since none of the ideas in that book were Dan Brown's originally...his work encompassed ridiculous theories that have been around for years. He merely made them popular.

Eh, someone always finds a reason to sue.