Judge Jesse M. Furman says the copyright infringement claims against the 'Titanic' helmer are 'misguided.'
- September 18, 2014
AceShowbiz -
The copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Roger Dean against James Cameron has been thrown out of court. The artist who has created album covers for Yes, Asia, and Uriah Heep claims the director ripped off his paintings for 2009's blockbuster movie "Avatar".
The plaintiff said in his suit, "The similarities of each such work are substantial, continuing, and direct so as to rule out any accidental copying or similarity in scenes common to the genre." However, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse M. Furman disagreed and dismissed the case.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the judge said Dean's allegations were "misguided," noting that the images the artist included as evidences were taken from "books about or derived from Avatar," rather than the film. The judge also pointed out that the images were cropped, rotated and otherwise taken "out of context" to make them resemble Dean's artworks.
Since "Avatar" was released, Cameron has faced multiple copyright infringement lawsuits including the one filed by sci-fi writer Bryant Moore and another by screenwriter Elijah Schkeiban. The Oscar-winning helmer won them all so far.
