The lawsuit against Disney Pixar regarding Cars that we previously told you about has been dismissed by U.S. District Court judge in California.
Jake Mandeville-Anthony, a British screenwriter, had filed the lawsuit last spring, alleging that Pixar had infringed on his copyright by stealing the idea for the Cars franchise from him. In the lawsuit, Mandeville-Anthony stated that he sent copies of his work, created twenty years ago, to Disney, and he met with a Lucasfilm executive who would later become a manager with Pixar.
However, after reviewing the case’s facts, Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank determined that there was no copyright infringement, and dismissed the suit with prejudice – a distinction which bars Mr. Mandeville-Anthony from ever having the case go to a jury trial, or from its being refiled. “Defendants have sufficiently shown that the Parties’ respective works are not substantially similar in their protectable elements as a matter of law,” wrote the judge in her ruling.
