'Cars' Copyright Suit Ignored in Win for Disney

Wally Disney A federal judge has ignored a United kingdom film writer's suit from the Wally Disney Co. that alleged the animated films Cars and Cars 2 was replicated from their own work. In March,Mike Mandeville-Anthonysued declaring the Pixar films infringed the copyright on the three-part script entitled "Cookie & Co.," concerning the true-existence adventure race-vehicle driverMichael Owen Perkins, who won a 1988 race, an additional work entitled "Cars," which incorporated cure, sample script, 46 animated vehicle character explanations, 10 cars character sketches, along with a marketing and retailing plan. PHOTOS: Summer time Movie Guide The workswere produced two decades ago and Mandeville-Anthony states he sent copies to Disney as well as met personally with aLucasfilmexecutive who later grew to become gm at Pixar. However in a brief summary judgment released on Thursday, California federal judge Valerie Baker Fairbank foundthe works were dissimilarand the claims were barred since the statute of restrictions had expired. STORY: 'Cars 2': 5 Things to understand about the Pixar Follow up The ruling may be the latest proof of the monumental "substantial similarity" burden facing aggrieved authors who believe their works happen to be stolen. In recent days, copyright thievery legal cases happen to be tossed out over ABC's Modern Family, The new sony's You Don't Wreck havoc on the Zohan, and NBC's I'm Earl, amongst others. The lawyers leading Disney's defense were Sanford Litvack and David Singer of Hogan Lovells. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner Cars 2