James Cameron Wins Avatar Lawsuit

06 Feb, 2013

James Cameron has defeated a lawsuit from a visual effects consultant who claimed the Oscar-winning film-maker stole his ideas for his multibillion-dollar blockbuster Avatar.

Judge Margaret Morrow ruled last week that Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment company were not responsible for compensating Gerald Morawski, who had claimed he met the film-maker in 1991 to discuss ideas for a film similar to the 2009 box office megalith, because they had proved beyond doubt that Avatar was an entirely original creation.

Morawski’s suit is the latest of a number of legal cases against Cameron, most of which the director of Titanic and Terminator has quietly gone about defeating. The plaintiff’s case was given more credit than most because he proved he did meet Cameron and his team in 1991, allegedly to discuss a project titled Guardians of Eden about an epic struggle between evil mining interests and an indigenous extraterrestrial tribe living in harmony with its rainforest environment.

The makers of Avatar issued a 45-page sworn declaration detailing how Cameron independently came up with the ideas and themes for his film, including hints about its two forthcoming sequels.

In a 33-page judgment in the central California US district court, after considering the case for more than a year, Morrow ruled: “Upon reviewing Cameron’s earlier works, it is evident that each element of Avatar that was allegedly taken from Guardians of Eden was independently created by Cameron prior to his meetings with Morawski. [Therefore] Morawski cannot demonstrate that he suffered damage as the result of misappropriation of his ideas or that he incurred costs in reliance on defendants’ promise.”

Cameron still has at least one case outstanding before he can finally lay the legal situation surrounding Avatar’s inception to rest. He is being sued by writer Eric Ryder, who claims he wrote a story titled KRZ 2068 in 1999 that centred on the corporate colonisation of a distant planet. Ryder, whose case is being heard in the Los Angeles superior court, says he worked on the project for two years at Lightstorm’s request.

Cameron says he never met the writer and once again asserts his entirely independent creation of Avatar.

the guardian

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