All tag results for 'plagiarism'

The drama is finally over!

Back in October, a judge had refused to dismiss a Harry Potter plagiarism lawsuit against J.K. Rowling by the estate of late author Adrian Jacobs.

Jacobs' estate claimed that Rowling's book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire drew substantially from Jacob's 1987 book The Adventures of Willy The Wizard - No. 1 Livid Land.

Judge Shira Sheindlin has dismissed the lawsuit, on the grounds that the two books were "distinctly different in both substance and style."

More from Judge Shiendlin:

"The contrast between the total concept and feel of the works is so stark that any serious comparison of the two strains credulity."

Here's what spokesman Kyle Good from Scholastic (Harry Potter's U.S. publisher) had to say about it:

"The court's swift dismissal supports our position that the case was completely without merit and that comparing Willy the Wizard to the Harry Potter series was absurd."

"Scholastic will continue to vigorously defend any such frivolous claims challenging the originality of Harry Potter."

Nice to hear that this was finally resolved! We're quite satisfied with the verdict.

Thoughts???

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: adiran jacobs, harry potter and the goblet of fire, jk rowling, lawsuit, plagiarism, the adventures of willy the wizard no 1 livid land

Okay, so they've made it a bit further, but J.K. Rowling's lawyers will squash this lawsuit all in good time.

A judge has refused to dismiss a plagiarism lawsuit against the Harry Potter author, by the estate of late author Adrian Jacobs. They claim that Rowling's book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire draws substantially from Jacob's 1987 book The Adventures of Will The Wizard - No. 1 Livid Land.

Jacobs' estate also claims that other plot points and ideas were stolen by Rowling, who of course calls the claims "unfounded" and "absurd." She also claims that she heard about Jacobs' book for the first time in 2004.

Justice David Kitchin will allow a one-day hearing to be scheduled to consider the case, and he has ordered that the trustee of Jacob's estate, Paul Allen, put down money as security for costs of the court case.

Here's what Allen's lawyer, Nick Kounoupias had to say about this news:

"If the claim does proceed, then J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury will be required to explain how the similarities between the two works came about, when to date there has been a refusal to disclose key manuscripts and notebooks."

We really just can't imagine this case going beyond this upcoming one-day hearing.

Do U think Jacob's estate has ANY chance against J.K. Rowling?

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: adrian jacobs, bloomsbury, harry potter and the goblet of fire, hearing, jk rowling, justice david kitchin, lawsuit, nick kounoupias, paul allen, plagiarism, the adventures of willy the wizard no 1 livid land

Good! He's in enough trouble already!

Sacha Baron Cohen is off the hook as a lawsuit accusing him of plagiarism has been dismissed. Cohen's character Bruno was thought to resemble a character is the unmade movie Himbos, where a man who dresses up in a Velcro suit makes a scene at a fashion show.

One down. Thousands to go.

Tags: lawsuit, plagiarism

Okay, so there is this crazy rumor going around that the concept for Inception actually came from an old Disney comic book called Uncle Scrooge in The Dream of a Lifetime.

Totally crazy, right? C'mon, this is Chris Nolan! He would never do a thing like that, right? Right?!

Well…

Okay, no. He didn't steal the idea from the comic. At least, no one can prove that. But regardless, there are enough similarities between the two to keep one guessing.

The story in the comic follows old Uncle Scrooge as his dreams are infiltrated by the evil Beagle Boys. They throw themselves into Scrooge's dream in order to extract the combination to his vault door.

Theft through dream invasion. Sounds familar, doesn't it?!

And look at the screencap from the comic above! Those machines look awfully similar, if you ask us! Really all Uncle Scrooge seems to be missing is the advent of CGI and the dashing good looks of Tom Hardy.

So could it be true? Could Chris have jacked his hyped up, high concept flick from a children's book? Do you remember how you got the idea, Christopher? Or even how you got here, with a #1 movie at the box-office that wasn't already based on a previous franchise???

Thoughts???

Tags: christopher nolan, comic book, inception, plagiarism

Ugh! And here we were thinking that we would never have to think of that shiteous show again now that it's been officially cancelled!

Comic book artist Jason Barnes has filed a $60 million lawsuit against NBC because he claims that a storyline on Heroes was a direct rip off of one of his works!

Barnes alleges that the show's story involving a travelling carnival in the last season is identical to his comic Jazan Wild's Carnival Of Souls!

The lawsuit states:

"The settings and the storylines are virtually the same. The main character in both stories leads a carnival of lost souls and outcasts. This dark character seeks to make his carnival more powerful by recruiting new members with special abilities. The appearance of some of the characters is also virtually identical to those in the plaintiff's books… Even the dialogue is similar. Indeed, some of the scenes in Heroes appear as if the plaintiff's books were used as storyboards by the defendants."

Wow! Seeing as we - and everyone else, for that matter - did not watch the show after the first season, we have no idea whether or not this has any validity or not!

We wouldn't be surprised if producers stole it, though! They probably did just to see if anyone would watch the crapfest long enough to pick up that it wasn't an original idea!

What do U think?? Does Barnes have a legit case on his hands??

Tags: bad tv, cancelled, comics, heroes, jason barnes, jazan wilds carnival of souls, lawsuit, legal matters, nbc, plagiarism, season

Quentin Tarantino was highly praised for his debut movie Reservoir Dogs, however, five years before the flick came out, a Hong Kong action movie City on Fire, starring a very young Chow Yun-Fat, had the exact same premise, fight scenes, and "undercover cop" ending.

Did Tarantino use some creative plagiarism or was it just an uncanny resemblance?

Watch this clip and see if U agree.

Tags: chow yun-fat, city on fire, clip, plagiarism, reservoir dogs