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Harlan Ellison famously sued James Cameron over The Terminator and won — and now he's going after Andrew "Gattaca" Niccol's new film In Time. Ellison claims In Time is too similar to his story "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman." And he's not just seeking a payout — he's trying to stop the October 28 release of the film, and seeking the destruction of all copies of the film. (Of course, I'm sure he's open to a settlement.) More »
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You can't stop the Imperial Stormtroopers. George Lucas sued the original designer of the stormtrooper costumes in Star Wars, seeking to stop him selling replicas. But even though Lucas prevailed in a U.S. court, he lost in the U.K. More »
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Two upcoming alien-invasion flicks might have a lot more in common than aliens and a Los Angeles setting. Turns out the directors of Skyline worked on the VFX for Battle: Los Angeles. And Sony is none too happy about that. More »
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In 1992, Neil Gaiman created Medieval Spawn and Angela, a warrior angel, for Todd McFarlane's up-and-coming Spawn comic. Years later, the characters "Dark Ages Spawn" and "Tiffany and Domina" debuted in Spawn. McFarlane must now pay Gaiman for these derivatives. More »
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Philip K. Dick's daughter, Isa Dick-Hackett, is considering suing Google because their phone handset may be called the Nexus One. The Replicants in Dick's Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? were Nexus-6 models. Would you want a Roy Batty phone? More »
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Did Nicolas Cage really predict the future in his schlocktastic thriller Knowing? That seems to be what tech startup Global Findability is hinting, in their infringement lawsuit against the film. Apparently Cage's method of locating future disasters is already patented. More »
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After Terminator Salvation faced judgment day at the box office, the producers sued their financing firm and their holding company declared bankruptcy. But sources familiar with the legal morass tell io9 Terminator 5 will still happen, no matter what. More »
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The production company behind Terminator Salvation is suing its main financing company — suggesting that, just maybe, they might be having a spot of bother raising the cash for a fifth Terminator. More »
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Could a movie of Philip K. Dick's trippy Ubik be delayed by a new lawsuit filed by his widow, Tessa Dick? She's suing the production company run by two of his daughters, over movie rights. More »
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The wrangling over the legal rights to Watchmen just gets more and more complicated, as Fox presses its arcane claim to the movie rights to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' postmodern superhero graphic novel. The latest theory about the case: it's all about Batman, really. More »
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Click to viewIt's looking bad for the Watchmen movie, now that a judge is allowing a lawsuit by Fox over the film rights to the famous graphic novel to go forward. It's even worse when you realize that the same judge ruled against Warner Bros. in a case involving the rights to a Dukes Of Hazzard movie two years ago. But the reality is, the Dukes got their movie, and so will the Minutemen. Fox is seeking an injunction to stop the March release of Warners' Watchmen movie, and they've managed to find the most sympathetic judge in L.A., Lawrence Feess. In a nutshell, Fox argues that Warners obtained movie rights from producer Lawrence Gordon, but Fox already owned the rights to distribute any movie made by Gordon. In a similar case involving the Dukes movie, Judge Feess granted a preliminary injunction preventing Warners from releasing the film. But in the Hazzard case, Warner Bros. agreed to pay the plaintiffs at least $17.5 million to settle their claims, and the movie came out as planned. (In retrospect, Warners may regret that settlement, considering how badly Dukes did.) It seems likely that Fox is simply lining up for a payout, and Watchmen will come out on time - but it'll simply be even more expensive than Warner Bros. already bargained on. Watchmen Babies image from Time.com. [New York Times] More »
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