Disney, James Cameron fend off copyright lawsuit over 'Avatar'
DIS•DIS•DIS•DIS•A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed animator Eric Ryder's copyright lawsuit alleging Disney and James Cameron copied his science fiction story for the “Avatar” sequels “The Way of Water” and “Fire and Ash.” The judge ruled that the works share general features but are not substantially similar.
U.S. District Judge George Wu dismissed Eric Ryder’s copyright case, finding that his story “KRZ” was not similar enough to the “Avatar” sequels to support an infringement claim. Ryder alleged that he collaborated with Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment in the early 2000s to develop a movie based on “KRZ.”
Ryder’s complaint said both “KRZ” and the “Avatar” series feature anthropomorphic beings, a vast oceanic setting and an Earth-based corporation conducting environmentally harmful mining on Europa. Ryder lost a similar lawsuit over the first “Avatar” movie in 2014.
