Roger Dean sues over movie Avatar

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Ar-Pharazon, Jul 1, 2013.

  1. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Roger Dean is the brilliant artist behind dozens of album covers from Yes, Asia, Uriah Heep and more.

    Roger believes the movie's look borrowed heavily from his body of artwork (ie: floating islands, stone arches, etc.)

    Story

    With the way lawsuits go sometimes, he might just have a chance of winning this thing.
     
  2. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    You can't copyright an artistic idea. Hence, floating mountains can't be copyrighted. Next...
     
  3. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

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    Why not try reading the document first? Parts 49 and 50 are particularly interesting. Apparently people in the production had stated that they were given Dean's work to base Avatar items and markings on.

    ETA:
    One would have thought that Cameron would have learned his lesson by now.

    Jan
     
  4. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Seems like it's more about the style of the images, rather than the content.

    Someone with a lot more legal knowledge than myself would have to help out here. If the style looks too much like Dean's, maybe he has a case?

    Funny that he waited 4 years to bring this up, though that guy claimed only a few years ago that he wrote the melody Men At Work used in the flute solo from Down Under. That was like, 25 years.
     
  5. Solariabsg25

    Solariabsg25 Commodore Commodore

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    He gonna sue these guys too?

    http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/02...-the-floating-islands-by-rachel-neumeier.html

    I'm not sure what it is, but guys seem to have gone a little sue-happy lately, what with this, and the class-action suit claiming millions in damages for the emotional trauma due to the fact that the Aliens:Colonial Marines footage from two years prior to the game's release was not in the actual game (I guess everyone should sue any studio that includes cut footage in their movie trailers huh?).
     
  6. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    It's amazing how many people come out of the woodwork to sue for copyright infringement when a successfully and not terribly original movie comes out :lol:
     
  7. Draculasaurus

    Draculasaurus Commander Red Shirt

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    So he doesn't want to be an influential artist, but rather "that jerk with the floating islands©".
     
  8. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    Jonathan Swift is lining up his legal team right now...
     
  9. EnderAKH

    EnderAKH Commodore Premium Member

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    After the millionth suit over Star Wars, George Lucas once said "No one ever sued me over Howard the Duck."
     
  10. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Jon Stewart is going down. Heck, he even stole most of the letters from his name.

    Artists influence each other. That's a given. This is just an opportunistic cash grab.
     
  11. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Even if true, so what? You can't copyright the idea of a floating island, and the Hallelujah Mountains were heavily enough inspired by actual mountains in China as to make any ripping off claim silly and completely baseless in legal terms at best.

    Draculasaurus is right. All this guy's doing is making himself look like an asshole to anyone who might consider hiring him in the future.
     
  12. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    I never heard about people suing Lucas for Star Wars! Who did that? Isaac Asimov? The creators of Flash Gordon? :p
     
  13. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Why would they sue George? Howard is owned by Marvel Comics. Of course Disney did threaten Marvel with legal action over Howard. Now they're all one big happy "family".
     
  14. I am not Spock

    I am not Spock Commodore Commodore

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    I did think that the floating mountains in Avatar looked very similar to my Yes album covers, all the way back in 2009!
     
  15. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Now N ow it is possible he hadn't seen anything to do with the film until now.

    But I suspect you can't copyright floating islands as haven't they been used in fiction for decades? As for the look all you need to do is find pictures of a few real islands (Thailand perhaps) that look somewhat similar in style to the ones in Avatar.
     
  16. JarodRussell

    JarodRussell Vice Admiral Admiral

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    If Dean can sue, then the guy who did this should also be able to sue Abrams/Paramount.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. Pingfah

    Pingfah Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    He can sue Paramount.

    He'd lose of course, not least because that ship is Paramount's intellectual property to begin with, making that hypothetical case entirely different from the one being discussed here.
     
  18. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

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    Any idiot knows that you can't copyright an idea, only execution. That's what this is about - actual copying of multiple images/structures/markings and admission of same. Not an accident, not an homage, not a coincidence, willful wrongdoing. Something Cameron's done before and lost that lawsuit.

    Jan
     
  19. NCC-1701-B

    NCC-1701-B Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Floating islands have been used in fiction for as long as ever. This guy can bugger off, he was obviously inspired by something else, as avatar was inspired by multiple things. Obviously his day job isn't paying the bills any more. Nothing but greed. Plain and simple. I hope he the case gets kicked out.
     
  20. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

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    ...is insane. --JMS