A Beijing court has accepted a Chinese writer’s plagiarism lawsuit against United States director James Cameron whom he claimed had stolen ideas for the hit sci-fi film “Avatar” from his 1997 fiction.
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court accepted Zhou Shaomou’s lawsuit yesterday. Among four other defendants was the China Film Group, yesterday’s Beijing News reported.
Zhou demanded an apology for the plagiarism and retained the right to seek economic compensation.
“Avatar” has taken more than US$2 billion at the box office worldwide, becoming the best selling movie in cinema history.
Zhou claimed that 80 percent of the plot and key elements of the film were similar to his 1997 science fiction novel “Tale Of The Blue Crows.” He said he spent seven years writing the book and signed a contract to publish it online.
The court didn’t decide when to hear the case, but normally such hearings are held one month later after the court accepts the suit, according to lawyer Zhang Yanyan.
Zhou tried to file a suit in March but the court said he had insufficient evidence. He wanted 1 billion yuan (US$147.7 million) in compensation, the report said.
Ironically, another Chinese writer named He Dexiang had also filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Cameron’s “Avatar,” claiming he was the writer of “Tale Of The Blue Crows,” Zhou said.
This is not the first time Cameron has been accused of plagiarism — the Russian press accused him of stealing from Soviet fantasy writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s books “The World of Noon.” And Serbian writer Predrag Urosevic claims that the scenario of the world’s hit film “Avatar” is based on the novel “Tihana from Erg” which he announced the 1984.
Maybe the next candidate to sue:
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well its to late for that becuze cameron probably didnt know thats like me doing that song u a jerk and somebody before me titled u a geek but failed maybe the people in your country didnt like your song and my mines was most popular plus james had the same idea as he did remember its 2010 not 1997 its a new generation plus cameron making a sequel im sorry asian man ut somebody had the same idea and got it out there
Avatar is a ‘Have to see’ film, revolutionary, as well as unusual picture . I think it shall be regarded by nearly all cinema goers as yet another landmark in the past of the artwork. The degree of realistic look reached is exceptional, and although the film is relatively prolonged in real time, it holds it’s exhilaration and retains the audience’s attention to the finish.Performances are good, but this may not be the kind of movie that dwells on large movie star significance for that actors, although Sigorney Weaver does indeed stand out and gives an incredibly convincing performance, as do the rest in the cast. But as there is a lot entertainment and motion value on display screen the human element doesn’t dominate in the usual way.
[…] Since the movie Tron:Legacy has been in the cinemas there has been a big hype about it. You can get Tron toys at the store, you have Tron themed events, people are dressing like the characters at parties, and so on and so forth. An Australian artist that calls himself “BossLogic” on Deviantart has gotten inspired by this movie to make something special. He has taken the well-known figures from the video game Street Fighter and changed them so they look like they’re taken directly out of Tron. They have now blue, yellow, purple and green lights all over them in a typical Tron-style. The Street Fighter characters look a lot more modern with the new design, and that is probably what on of the artist’s goals was. Another huge movie was and still is Avatar which was sued by a Chinese author for plagiarism. […]