jonathanweiss
1 September 2020CopyrightMuireann Bolger

Disney fails to sink 'Pirates’ infringement suit

Walt Disney has been unsuccessful in its bid to persuade the  US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to consider revoking the revival of a lawsuit that claims it stole elements of an earlier screenplay.

In a decision handed down yesterday, Monday, August 31, the Ninth Circuit denied Disney’s petition for a panel rehearing and for a rehearing en banc.

In 2017, screenwriters Lee Alfred and Ezequiel Martinez sued Disney, accusing the film studio of taking elements from their screenplay “Red Hood” for “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”, the first instalment of the blockbuster film franchise.

The US District Court for the District of Colorado dismissed the case, ruling that the only similarities between the screenplays were “unprotectable” elements generic to pirate films, such as rum-drinking pirates.

It held that, “at most, plaintiffs have demonstrated random similarities scattered throughout the parties’ works”.

However, the Ninth Circuit allowed the suit to resurface on July 22, holding that the authors of the screenplay had  alleged enough similarities to move forward with their suit.

In a petition for a rehearing issued on August 5, Disney argued that in making its decision, the appeal’s panel had filtered out “generic, pirate-movie tropes”, that it had “erroneously “accept[ed] as true allegations contradicting documents that are referenced in the case”, and that it had reversed the district court’s decision based on a few similarities alleged by plaintiff, which were “generic or inaccurate”.

Disney further claimed that the screenwriters falsely alleged that Disney’s anti-hero, Jack Sparrow, had, like their screenplay’s Davey Jones, renounced piracy in favour into a law-abiding, parental life.

By contrast, Disney argued that Sparrow, “never renounces his piracy, does not have an equivalent love interest, does not care for children, is willing to sacrifice everything to be captain of his beloved Black Pearl ship, and continues to live the life of a pirate”.

Disney argued that the panel’s decision conflicts with extensive precedent, and “will chill district courts from resolving copyright cases on motions to dismiss, dragging courts and creators alike into an unnecessary quagmire of discovery and summary judgment”.

It added that the panel’s decision could lead to “no-brainer dismissals” being reversed. However, the court disagreed with Disney’s arguments and no judge requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc.

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